I left this platform months ago and I would delete the account but Facebook doesn’t allow that. So, Mr. Zuckerberg can run his trash company right into the sewer. He seems fine with his customers leaving in droves.
Just ditch Facebook, it’s garbage. No one needs it.
Vladimir Lenin said it best, "The capitalists will sell us the rope with which we will hang them."
Facebook is doing its part to assure what's left of our democracy doesn't survive the 2020 election.
As my parents told me 50+ years ago, we sold scrap metal to Japan in the 1930's -- and got it back at Pearl Harbor.
2
Zuckerberg just told us he would sell space to disinformation, because of his love for free speech. We should believe the part about selling, not the other stuff. This is a monopoly and it is headed by an amoral billionaire. Have we had enough of amoral billionaires?
3
Facebook can easily check the veracity of claims made by political campaigns, such as Trump's disinformation ads, and should. If they don't want to take them down, then put a big red "fiction" label across the ad. They have an obligation to the truth.
4
It's simple, Facebook. Just ban ALL political ads until after the election. Yes, you'll lose money, but you may preserve our country. America will be eternally grateful for your help and your support of ethical behavior. We may even begin to think positively about Facebook.
2
Doesn't matter what Facebook (or any other social media) does to police their political content, people will believe what they want to. They don't care where it came from, if it agrees with their views, they will proclaim it to be true and spread it about. Some people still believe if it is on the internet, then it must be true.
2
They are allies of convenience in Syria, but Iran and Russia have different agendas. I think Russia will again help re-elect Trump because he flatters Putin, looks the other way on everything Putin does, and carries water for Vladimir by promoting Russia rejoining the G-7.
Iran wants to see JCPOA reinstated, sanctions lifted, and Democrats seem to be unanimous in doing that. Facebook has the dilemma of allowing free speech, while safeguarding the "truth." But in the Orwellian era of fake news, truth is relative.
If Facebook took down Zuckerberg and Trump...... problem solved.
2
"One of the campaigns focused more on the 2020 election. In that campaign, 50 accounts linked to Russia’s Internet Research Agency — a Kremlin-backed professional troll farm — targeted candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination"
Putin's STILL helping Trump!! I guess he understands that the best way to help Russia is to re-elect Trump.
4
We can see what is coming. 40,000 thought police being trained.
We need new platforms now!
Trumpsearch.
Trumpbook.
It's not enough that Hillary and her allies outspent us 3 to 1, now there will be a permanent 40,000 army on your side.
Sick, sick, sick.
Get off facebook!!!!!
3
Really! well what do you want from us Facebook....cartwheels?
We deserve to have a corporation that puts humanity and freedom above profits and control of populations thru your platform messages from bots and advertisers and essentially propaganda from spies wanting the demise of lawful rules that affect your monopoly on truth and community formation.
Reality isn’t Facebook.
2
It is interesting that after a meeting with the Glorious Leader, that that I am assuming, involved discussion of the possibility of trump having barr join the Democrats in their anti-trust review of Facebook, that zuckerberg announced that Facebook would allow trump and his surrogates to post false information on Facebook.
3
I am that one lone person still not on Facebook. I lock my doors and don’t allow total strangers into my home. Why would I let them in through social media? There is a reason I read the NYT, I want to be informed and know that what I am reading is fact checked. While not infallible, at least NYT does express a sense of allegiance to the truth. Facebook, not so much.
1
Facebook (& Instagram and Twitter) chasing down foreign fake news planted specifically by American enemies needs to be a major part of policy if they expect to be permitted to function as utilities going forward. Proven fake accounts need to be taken down within a certain amount of time.
This in contrast to American backed disinformation campaigns. Laws need to be passed and enforced that create severe consequences (treason perhaps?) for anyone (especially American citizens) knowingly peddling the kind of fake news that has muddied our public discourse. This goes for news networks as well as individuals. There needs to be a line drawn between permitted free speech and prohibited information that is clearly false masquerading as ‘facts’.
In 2019, fake news is proving to be an American enemy of the highest order.
1
Any comments by the Trump Administration on the non-stop attempts by Putin and Russia to influence our democratic process or should we just get over it?
2
Wow, we can see what's coming.
40,000 thought police at Facebook. And, that's just the beginning.
They aren't going to limit themselves to cracking down on 20,000 dollars of Facebook ads from some crackpot in Russia.
How can any political ad be parsed for TRUTH. They are advertisements. Get over it. You can say anything in the public square.
So Facebook takes down disinformation campaigns from Russia, but not from our own president? When is a lie not a lie?
3
Does anyone else find it strange that these “disinformation campaigns” never seem to target Trump? Hmmmm ... wonder why that is?
2
Trump is a damaged person, he loves conspiracy theories, does not understand truth, has no interest in real governing, loves shady exploits,associates with criminals and despots, alienates allies and anything honest and upright is boring.
He has power because of his position as president and he is using this position to dominate others with his shady and criminal ideas and to blatently force others to carry out his election interference. The power of his position has influenced our country and other countries to turn a blind eye to authoritarian actions , It has made end runs around democracy and persuaded the public that black is white because of his constant projections. Projections are reverse lies deflecting legitimate and usually true accusations on to the accuser. When he does this take note.It happens constantly.
The general public does not understand how dangerous this whole situation has become. The media needs to work harder to educate them. This may be the understatement of the decade. The window of opportunity is closing.
4
That’s nice. Doesn’t really matter much, though, does it, after Facebook explicitly said it wouldn’t take down disinformation (read: blatant lies about his opponents) from Trump campaign ads on Facebook.
What has more power, and holds more validity, do you think, for the average user — especially a Republican one? A lie spread via some random person or entity one stumbles upon on FB... or a lie spread by the sitting President of the United States of America?
Boycott Facebook until they lose their dominant position and competitors arise. That is the only solution.
@James Grosser
Good idea, but never going to happen. Too many kids too wrapped up in their own importance.
Wouldn't it be great if Facebook could have live fact checkers on their site whenever someone had a question about an ad. It would be great for kid's also. I know one thing though, without being able to lie the Republicans would be doomed.
1
I find it appalling that Facebook is accepting ads from Trump that spread lies, all the while decrying the disinformation disseminated by ads from foreign troublemakers. Facebook must fact-check all political ads!
3
How can anything that comes from Facebook be credible when the man at helm declares in private to wage a war on the US government if a potential candidate becomes the nominee for the president?
The Sharing economy is all about building trust where none existed. Yet we can't seem to trust any of the information on social networks.
It seems like an easy fix to verify a source of information given how easily Sharing platforms verify everything else from the mundane to the intimate.
I'm glad that Facebook has the resources to fight disinformation by malign states. I'm puzzled however as to why they can't seem to find the resources to respond to user complaints and fix problems. How long am I going to have to wait before they fix the problem that their faulty software created and let me use my account again? Weeks? Months? Will they ever fix it? I need my account to help run a club. A search on Google reveals I'm not the only one whose complaint has been completely ignored.
Can a company with customer service this bad really be trusted to run a currency? Especially when they release software that doesn't appear to have been through any testing before release - e.g. popping up an error message telling me I need to enter a second email address before proceeding but providing no field, or means, in which to do so!!!
And claiming that they are going to better verify people's identity? Please. They let people register using cellphones. There is no security there at all.
Facebook should require ALL campaign ads include its source of funds, just like as required on any "on air" commercial or any printed ad that arrives in my mailbox.
3
FaceBook should require ALL campaign ads show the source origin, just like Wikipedia does, and just like it's required if it ran "on air" or if it was a printed ad that arrived in the mailbox. They should also verify that information.
If FB made this change, they could reduce a lot of inaccuracies; it would also show its source (whether paid for by RNC, DNC, or foreign).
1
@Actual Science The problem is that these aren't necessarily "campaign ads" per se. Many of these questionable posts appear to be from individuals or websites (posing as news and/or content aggregators). A user can see some information about the source of a post, but the fact is that most users - especially if the post (meme) is consistent with their views - will not look at the information and consider it in evaluating the credibility of the post. So what if the meme saying AOC is plotting to assassinate Trump was generated by an Iranian-backed entity? "Gosh, they must know something we don't (or that the MSM is suppressing), so I'm going to share this with my friends" goes their thinking. The problem is two-fold: creators, seeking to foment discord; and users who accept the posts uncritically. Unfortunately, Facebook can't fix the users who will continue to share these posts.
1
Let's create analogy. I prepare and serve food for hundreds of people. I make money on this service. I have a moral, ethical, and legal responsibility to be truthful in labeling, and responsible in preparation and serving. Carelessness and deception can ruin my good reputation and possibly destroy someone's health or life. Why should a person whose trade is INFORMATION be any less responsible? Pictures are often removed because they "violate an community standard". Why are lies and deception any different?
3
The public better wake up. When the weight of the justice department under Barr is involved in disinformation and cover up for a criminally inclined president Trump, supported by Republicans, and helped by other countries coopted by Trump,including Russia disinformation media campaigns, we are in trouble. We have transitioned into an authoritarian regime. We are no longer a real democracy because the the Justice department is no longer an independent check, but has become an arm of the president.
We are no longer functioning as a democracy.Trump and associates are deep into conspiracy theories and illegal election interference. Where is the media outrage? Where are the articles explaining this to the public? Is the media also owned by Trump? If we can't rouse from our trance and protest this, we are doomed. Russia has won and we join its ranks.,Surely we all realize what that means or are we brain dead as well?
13
@joyce
"Coverup..."
Yes
$60 million of investigations and I am still waiting to find out who were the sources for the Trump dossier.
And, I am still waiting to find out how many Ukranian and Chinese contracts and dollars flowed into Hunter Biden's pockets.
Coverup indeed.
The solution is simple (for me, anyway): stay off Facebook! Really, who needs it. The Twitter habit, on the other hand, I have been unable to break.... yet.
5
@Mark Crozier - This disinformation isn’t intended for someone wise enough to stay off Facebook.
1
Why is domestic disinformation allowed, but foreign disinformation not? This makes no sense and will just redirect foreign state backed efforts to funnel money domestically for the same purpose.
9
@Chris Knight
"Why is domestic disinformation allowed..."
So, you would support shutting down the New York Times?
1
With these successes secured, Facebook can now turn its attention to removing the disinformation campaign waged by the Trump Reelection Committee.
17
@Max
Zuckerberg wants trump back in not anyone else because warren, sanders and others want to cut up tech companies. as well they should
Facebook is quickly finding a place next to MySpace in the land of irrelevance. Most I know, and that covers a range of people from 20-65 in age, have scraped Facebook altogether. Granted all are using Instagram, but the consensus is that it is not toxic like Facebook.
3
How about removing treasonous Trump
15
Why???? Come on Zuckerberg. Every dollar counts to keeping up the stock....
4
@Sipa111
Zuckerberg, like trump can not be trusted when there is money around!
Facebook: America does not want to be manipulated or lied to by ANYONE. Not Russia, Trump, Sanders, Biden, Warren or ANYONE. Of course the last three people mentioned haven't lied or manipulated us as far as I know. But the guy in the wh, he is as corrupt as a criminal. He is putting tons of money into his lying campaigns and Facebook is allowing him to lied to America. It is sickening and I don't want to support Facebook in this and believe March Zuckerberg should step down as CEO.
10
@Angel
I am sure Zuckerberg still wants trump in. everyone else wants to break apart tech companies and banks.
2
@jennifer t. schultz
following your thoughts these entities have a lot to lose if they were broken up.
How much will they spend to stay intact,
my guess is as much as it takes.
My understanding is the election process in ancient Athens was more interesting if a person "won"the vote of the people ( as a threat to democracy by being too powerful) they were exiled and their assets seized. Ah the good old days but not so much for some Socrates.
Unless your system surprises me I expect another 4 years of the undesirable.
At the top of your news feed when you login to Facebook, I’d like to see a statement to the effect of “There are X bots of foreign origin on the Facebook platform currently attempting to affect the US election. This effort includes fake posts, likes and shares. It’s possible that some of what you see in your news feed are materials generated by foreign actors attempting to influence your viewpoint for their own advantage.”
Like an intro to a movie “adapted from real events” - it’s not actually real.
14
President Trump when can we expect you to tell us that this latest report of US election interference is "fake news" because the Supreme Leader of Iran Ali Khamenei told you so?
When?
Why?
And the Supreme Leader of Russia V. Putin regarding the exact same issue, same conclusion?
Why?
3
@Henry Fernando
Yes. Because I am so infinitely more entertaining than anyone of the Democrat candidates.
So, when is Facebook and Zuck shutting down blatant and demonstrably false disinformation campaign from Trump and GOP?
18
Trump and the Republicans need and welcome Russian interference. All others should delete their Facebook accounts today.
6
People should not rely on Facebook for information about anything.
14
Why is it not ok for Russia and Iran to spread disinformation but no problem for our own elected politicians to spread blatant lies?
13
@Sean
only one telling the lies is this WH, admin, and all of his cabinet secretaries. and once SCOTUS said that corporations are people (citizens united)we are all doomed.
Why is Facebook allowed to violate daily the Foreign Agent Registration Act? They acknowledge that they regularly publish political propaganda of foreign powers. The fact that they may take some of this down subsequently does not make it legal to publish foreign propaganda that is seen by millions of US citizens without registering under FARA. FARA contains exemptions for news organizations but Facebook and other internet platforms have been clear that they are not editorial news outlets like the Times. Facebook and Twitter should be sued under the criminal sanction of FARA.
11
@Bryan Davies
a judge said that what trump says on twitter is not for real. I think it should be sued as well. facebook and twitter. but ever since citizens united forget it. to me Zuckerberg should be made to register as a foreign agent.
1
Facebook's protestations are a sick joke. Its only concern is the Ruble exchange rate. Trump, with a Republican congress, delivered a huge tax cut for billionaires.
4
But what about the ones from within the U.S.? Sheesh.
4
"Facebook...recently found and [took] down four state-backed disinformation campaigns..."
Wow. Out of, what...500?
As long as Facebook is a public company, this is the paltry and feckless care we'll hear from them.
4
@Robert Salm
citizens united.
Zuckerberg never took fakebook IPO public. it is still private. and he owns the majority
@Robert Salm
citizens united.
Now how about taking down the homegrown ones?
4
Why those and not the others?
2
Fakebook was supposed to get out of hand....
The lies that people seem to give thumb ups are just out of this world....
That's the reason I closed my account a year after it became the social networking website to join.... and I haven't miss it at all.....
But again..., most of the people who use it live misinformed all the time.... SAD
2
Great, now how about taking down disinformation campaigns from that...person in the White House and his band of hacks.
4
I hope the Times and other news media will stay on this. Zuckerburg cares only about money — not his country.
4
Only four?
2
Why give FOX news a free pass?, they are the largest source of Fake News.
5
Since they have done this one nice thing for the last 10 minutes to safeguard the society they live in and called our attention to it, let's reward them by allowing them to continue to operate boundlessly into the endless future.
That's 4 out of how many? Facebook is causing more damage to the American political process than Trump.
If Zuckerberg was clever enough to invent Facebook he should be clever enough to solve this problem, which is an attempt to kill the Republic by the Russians and other terrorists.
2
@Ken Solin Did he invent it? Or appropriate it?
@Ken Solin
actually Zuckerberg came along after his two buddies or the one guy(forgot his name)thought it up.
Facebook now sells prepaid cards that can be bought in cash in any pharmacy across the US. How can they verify foreign backed campaigns if they sell prepaid cards that can be purchased in cash??? What would prevent foreign agents located in the US from buying hundreds of thousands of these cards and using them to purchase political ads?
3
2016 was probably paid for by Americans- elites that wanted disinformation with no US interdiction or reach.
That's a start Zuck. I watched your interview. You've gotten a little too big for your crocs and let the buyer beware business model.
So what?
Facebook has already committed to allowing demonstrable lies to be amplified on its platform in the form of GOP “political advertising ”.
Stopping a handful of foreign actors - which means there are likely 4 or 5 for every one caught up, anyhow - means nothing when compared to the tens of millions of people who will be misinformed and manipulated in the name of money, algorithms and “free speech”.
3
Hmmm....
They've spent over $4 billion to find and remove $40,000 worth of facebook ads.
That speech regulation bureaucracy will eventually be turned against us. The novel 1984 warned us about what is coming.
We need a Trump network as a free speech sanctuary. A network without a $4 billion speech bureaucracy.
Just let us sort it out. Russia has a a population of over 70 million adults. We shouldn't blow an eyeball capillary every time one of them posts snark about a presidential candidate.
Facebook claims they have 35,000 employees working on their security measures out of (from what I could figure out) roughly 40,000 total. Can that possibly be the case?
@Teo you don't think 5000 people can keep the server farms running.
@Teo
Doubly deployed.
Renee DiResta, the technical research manager for the Stanford Internet Observatory, called Facebook’s new measures at fighting disinformation “commendable.” But she also said it was “incongruous” for Facebook “to reiterate a commitment to fighting misinformation” even as it has permitted political leaders to put false information in posts and ads.
if you cannot or will not fix the problem, the government will certainly do that for you .
I stopped using Facebook a long time ago, and even if I still did, it wouldn’t be for news. I’m not a fan of how Zuckerberg is providing a platform for hire to false advertising, but shouldn’t we also take some responsibility? Just don’t use it. Close your account, or severely limit your circle of friends. Get your news from real journalists and established publications that have a history of professionalism - i.e publishing facts, labeling “opinion” pieces as such, etc. We all have a civic responsibility to be informed and vote. Unfortunately, vast numbers of Americans seem to have gotten lazy.
6
FB should be required to disclose to every user which "likes" and "clicks" of theirs were interacting with false accounts. They should be required to undo every act of disinformation they have enabled.
7
@Stacy VB
And, that would be anything that disagrees with your false beliefs, right?
This all reminds me of the Sorcerer's Apprentice scene in the Disney movie Fantasia with Mickey Mouse losing control of what he created.
Anyhow, the only way for Facebook to support our democracy, and the free country in which Mark Zuckerberg could create Facebook, would be to shut it down entirely in 2020 on the day after the last nominating convention until the day after the November election. I think the company could get by with the loss of four months revenue. Heck, I would even chip in $100 to help make up for it.
11
@macduff15
by then the damage will have been done. citizens united. and I cant stand Zuckerberg. he doesn't want facebook busted up and if trump doesn't get in any or all of the candidates want big tech and big banks broken up.
Facebook takes money for ads. As a cost of doing business, why not include a fact checking service as a prerequisite for political advertising? Opinions, facts, and misinformation could be identified and flagged.
We know why, of course. If politicians knew lies would be checked, they'd take their ads and FB's large revenue stream elsewhere.
Once again, democracy takes a back seat to capitalism.
22
The people in the know & the commenters here seem to be in agreement; Facebook is more the main problem and can't regulate itself to the needs of govt and the people.
Expecting Mark Zuckerberg to do the needed items is like hoping that Trump will admit he is unfit & quit. Results are the same; it simply is not going to happen.
Quite simply, there is just too much electoral power in the hands of Facebook to be allowed by countries wanting to keep democracy. The 2 largest countries, China will not allow it because of danger to the Communist Party while India does because it has been good to PM Modi and his party.
In the end, there is no way to allow that much electoral power to remain solely in the hands of a for profit company, the possible profits and/or powers are just too big. Facebook must be regulated now, before the 2020 elections, if we want to save our democracy. If they, with Russian help, elect Trump again, we will not get democracy back.
15
Zuckerberg is becoming the new Julian Assange. Time to take on social media rather than using it without concern. Zuckerberg must be held accountable and his defense so far is slightly a bit better than useless.
11
facebook is a private company. It is not the government. facebook can censor anything it wants.
As far as censorship goes it would be best if facebook exercised its right to censor content more liberally.
7
Amen. People throw around the term "free speech" without understanding that it applies to the government not to social media in private hands.
4
Well Bless Zuckerberg's heart. He's great at doing the least he can.
11
Zuckerberg's idea of connecting everyone on one network has proven to be disastrous. I doubt if there is a fix. The internet itself isn't the problem but Facebook is. In effect Zuckerberg has created a monster that it out of control. Ultimately we need to get to Web 3.0 fast because Web 2.0 doesn't work. Web 1.0 was great and then it all fell apart with Google, Facebook, etc with erosion of privacy and the dissemination of widespread fake news and propaganda. As long as there is Facebook elections in the US will be affected by adversaries that oppose democracy. It appears impossible to get enough Americans to abandon Facebook to make a difference so Americans just may have to get used to a new obstacle to holding fair elections, foreign government interference.
5
Zuckerman is a Trump supporter, according to many commentators. So he does a minimum, to keep critics off his back, and no doubt allows a stunning number of pro-Trump ads, videos, and posts.
Too bad Zuckerman can’t be impeached, just like Trump needs to be.
Meanwhile, all Americans who care about the country’s future should hold Facebook in great doubt.
7
As matter of fact most very rich people I know support trump. Some of my closest friends áre. And amazingly, I still like them.
@Victoria Jingle
not all of them. Zuckerberg wants trump back in because most of the dem candidates want to split up tech companies like google, amazon and facebook. and banks of course.
Four sites?
But all evidence from out Intelligence Communities indicate there are dozens to hundreds of them: up, and well established...
I am not even close to being impressed! Take down five hundred to a thousand of them, and you will have my attention - and thanks. Until then, it’s a smoke screen to allow lots of other fake news and corrupt sites to flourish.
23
So they found four new campaigns? Based on their track record that means there are about 4,000 new ones they haven't found.
Great.
So much for their advanced capabilities.
19
Facebook clearly cannot manage, nor monitor itself. They have become an insulated nation unto themselves.
Zuckerberg says he wants government to handle the issue of election manipulation...knowing full well our government will take years to pass legislation.
If Zuckerberg genuinely cares about this nation - and wants to make amends for its very real responsibility in the Cambridge Analytica scandal (see Christoper Wiley interview on Fresh Air) that manipulated the 2016 election - he will ban all political advertising on Facebook now.
Or, how about the American people, most of whom are FB users, band together and threaten a boycott of FB if it does not ban political ads now through election day 2020?
That way both Facebook and the American people can take tangible, positive action to preserve our way of life, our democracy, and keep our electoral process sacrosanct.
Who's ready to take action to take up the authentic cause of American democracy?
11
@Kelly Grace Smith
Forget about Facebook, I say. Form a new company, $20 to start, and $10 per year to do all the things that a “better than” service must do, if required to do so by its member-owners.
We are already willing to pay $1,000.00 for a phone and $50.00 per month for access.
Are we really unwilling, afraid or depleted of our energies to grab this little bull by the horns and put it in its place? We will see.
What do you say?
@Kelly Grace Smith
well too bad he took trump campaign money. as long as citizens united was approved by SCOTUS it will never go away. fakebook is a person don't you know. that is what alito said.
Disinformation knows no national boundaries. But, FB gets paid to show advertisements. Propaganda pays, to those who are willing to spread it, for a fee. Doesn't matter what it pushes. Domestic lies are ok, they are far more plentiful. Discerning truth is the problem of the the reader, it says so in the First Amendment, right? That's what the founders meant when they wrote it. Caveat emptor.
What a pitiful example of how democracy is supposed to work that we've become. Politics isn't about truth, or law. Truth is whatever you can convince people to think it is, and the law is whatever people in power want to make it.
FB is about making money for Mark and the shareholders, not about American ideals, except for the "anybody can be a millionaire with the right gimmick" thing.
FB will implode, but probably not soon enough.
4
There is nothing in the First Amendment regarding non-governmental forum. The First Amendment is about government interference nothing stands in the way of Zuckerberg acting responsibly and remembering that as a citizen of a country that has given him so much, he has a civic duty to care for it.
8
Given the history of FB's last election advertising policy (or lack there of) and the fact that FB still have no control over bogus adds being ran - the solution is quite easy. FB should be banned from placing political ads (of any kind) on their forum. That would stop the disinformation campaigns immediately and allow our democracy to work more effectively and fairly.
6
Considering how Facebook has been used since its inception, Facebook IS "disinformation." Social media has been where you "PhotoShop your life." Consequently, Zuckerberg always will "find" more because it's the core principle of the business plan. Now the only problem will be to figure out where to stash all that dirty Russian money that's already flowing in.
6
I left FB a year ago. I don’t miss it at all. Life is better w/o it. Think about booting it out of your life.
18
After the Cambridge A. incident I left as well. FB lying was beyond reprehensible.
5
@Charlie Chan
I left Facebook on 7-15-2010. I was on it for 18 months & saw FB for what it was-an invasion of privacy waiting to happen and how users could weaponize Facebook
4
I left FB about 18 months ago. I don’t miss it. It’s a big waste of time.
2
If Mark Zuckerberg was truly vested in our democracy, he would NOT allow false advertising by political groups. But he prefers to take the money and hide behind his statement that says lies are free speech. Isn't this hypocritical to allow false claims in the ads? Isn't this also interference in the election?? People, abandon Facebook.
10
Does the newest FB policy to acknowledge disinformation include those from US-produced campaigns? I feel fb should attribute any facts with its source, just as Wikipedia does. Seems there's a whole lot of inaccurate news produced nationally too . https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/20/us/elections/trump-campaign-ads-democrats.html?searchResultPosition=2
5
Seems Facebook is quietly advising the Buttigieg’s campaign according to Bloomberg?
3
@e.s. Democrats are an election too late. In 2016, the Trump campaign soaked up advice from FB and Cambridge Analytica about how they could closely target a message and that turned around everything for them. It would be a huge mistake if Dems didn't do this for the 2020 election. FB should offer that information to all candidates who want it.
2
Down with Facebook. Down with Zuckerberg. Hiding behind the First Amendment to protect profits while pretending to be protecting free speech is a transparent, despicable strategy, but not at all a surprising one from Zuckerberg. The idea that he's a hands-off, benign guardian of free speech is preposterous.
Go get 'em, Professor Warren. Regulate the Big Tech behemoths with a heavy hand!
14
@Mercutio
not just fakebook, google, Instagram, amazon, all of them. oh and the banks.
As a member of an older generation, I would say we have a lot to learn from younger generations that, at this point, completely eschew Facebook for other platforms that allow them to authentically connect with friends, share pictures, and trade ideas without a steady stream of misinformation and engineered headlines to capture clicks.
When I ask my high school students who uses Facebook not a single hand goes up. These kids have no idea why anyone would spend time on a platform that pushes unverified content from unknown users onto their screen.
Facebook can and must do better but, as other have mentioned, companies sell what people consume and we older folks are the ones consuming this garbage. To quote everyone under 40, "Only old people use Facebook."
Don't confuse entertainment with news. If you want to catch up on news, visit a reputable news source.
8
The problem isn't Facebook. It is Zuckerberg. Zuckerberg is nothing more than a very lucky, barely college educated naif with little knowledge of law, politics, institutions, organizations and the greatly negative impact of social media. In Zuckerberg's social theory of the freedom of speech he believes that it is best for Americans to have unrestrained freedom of speech including the freedom to attack democratic institutions through Facebook and other social media. In other words Zuckerberg doesn't care if American democracy is dissolved by electronic media run amok. He thinks he is preserving freedom of speech. That is misguided and destructive in thought and practice.
Zuckerberg cannot fathom the danger that is lurking in misleading and disguised posts by foreign, state backed posts charged with discrediting valid political candidates and undermining the American political and judicial process.
Russia, China, Iran and North Korea would like nothing better than to disseminate false information and watch America be taken apart tweet by tweet and web page by web page. Of course Trump refers to Russian interference as a witch hunt and further muddies the water giving validity to Zuckerberg's claim that there is no problem.
Zuckerberg doesn't understand conspiracy theories and he doesn't understand the goals and objectives of the Russian, Chinese, North Korean and Iranian players. Those nations seek to thwart and destroy America.
Zuckerberg is aiding and abetting them.
13
And you forgot to mention arrogant despite his meek exterior.
2
Believe FB can easily suppress hate and disinformation posts. They are able to suppress music copyright infringements very easily.
FB is very much profit driven with little concern for the destructive impact of their libertarian approach.
FB either needs to be boycotted... that would get their attention more than even billion dollar judgments.
If you’re a FB user write a post and tell them so.
4
showing the bad actors would have been helpful
3
Only four? Must be they are looking for them through Trump colored glasses.
7
Banning lies on FB will not cure what ailes many American voters: intellectual laziness, lack of curiosity, zilch critical thinking skills, ignorant and proud of it, poorly educated.
10
Mr. Zuckerberg has often stated Facebook needs to do more to combat malevolent behavior. I believe FB needs to less. Less access, fewer changes to processes which are of little or no other than to add "mouse clicks". History says juggernauts meet their demise upon attempting to expand their empires. Stay tuned.
I don’t get it. I thought disinformation campaigns qualify as free speech. Facebook seems to think they do when carried out by Trumpist PACs.
4
I'm sure that Trump toady Bill Barr and the Justice Department's investigations of the tech companies have absolutely nothing to do with Facebook's decision
2
MZ created a monster and there is no controlling it. Boycott FB!
6
The cost of being a massive monopoly. Facebook channels juicy gossip or misinformation on a massive scale locally and globally. It is bound to have massive effects. Amazon is killing small businesses in a catastrophic global extinction just like the nile perch in the great lakes. Anti-monopoly laws are required just like it was applied to Microsoft.
3
OK, America, set Facebook down - and a bunch of other sites, too. They are now hurting us more than they are helping. Read newspapers. Listen to and watch reliable TV news. Talk to people, not just text. Speak in whole sentences. Express ideas, not slogans and memes, whatever that really means. Communicate as though your mind and the nation's future depend on it.
10
It would be nice if FB provided a way to report fake accounts that mimic those of people you know IRL, and if they would actually research those leads.
4
The answer is simple. Don't rely on Facebook for political information. Facebook is not a news organization, it is an unregulated communication tool that anyone can use without regard to facts truth or the criminality of their postings. It is a no more reliable source of information than graffiti scrawled on a wall.
The right relies on Fox and the likes of Limbaugh et al, the left on MSNBC and CNN. The far left and far right have their respective internet portals. Those in the middle would be well advised to identify and reject highly biased propaganda sources.
11
"Disinformation", which did not appear in English language dictionaries until the late-1980s, is a translation of the Russian дезинформация, According to Wikipedia, Joseph Stalin coined the term, giving it a French sounding name to claim it had a western origin. (It's frightening to think what Stalin and his accomplices might have done had social media been around 75 years ago.)
It's appalling to witness the damage caused by accomplices, witting or otherwise, in the name of 'giving people a voice'. Would Facebook's profits be compromised if Mr. Zuckerberg simply decided to ban ALL political advertisements? I think not, and at least it would be a start to battling the torrent of lies and deceit that flood the internet.
7
@Mark H
Mark, I hope you know that disinformation and the subversion of democratic elections in other countries is not limited to Russia. The "intelligence" agencies of the United States, and their proxies are as guilty as the Russians.
The problem is not a Russian disinformation campaign, it is the sloth, fear, ignorance and inability to think critically of the American electorate.
4
@Paying Attention I would certainly agree with you that the demise of critical thinking combined with sloth, fear and ignorance is the problem. Thanks for your comments.
1
I am more concerned about foreign money finding its way to influence our politicians.
And , quite frankly, I am tired about hearing about Russia without hearing equally about other countries influencing our politicians.
3
@e.s. Details? What money? Which countries? Which politicians? Also on the scale Russia did in 2016 and is apparently still doing? You’re pretty vague, aren’t you? Maybe there’s an obvious reason for your vagueness.
1
History will judge us harshly for not shutting FB down, or at the least, ban it from any political advertising. Zuckerberg is a major problem for the future of democracy.
27
Start with shutting down Twitter. Turn off one drainpipe, the one he who shall not be named uses to run his propaganda.
2
So... it's not ok for foreigners to influence Americans using disinformation but it's ok for US politicians to do so? Lies are lies are lies - and the sooner influencers start calling them out, the better off we'll be. Just another instance of Facebook's (et al) unwillingness to appropriately manage its platform. Civil society will perish while Zuckerberg et al enrich themselves.
8
Social media needs to be held accountable for the lies that perpetuate on their platforms. Government regulation is way past due. If the 2016 election happens again, shame on America.
10
@Ed Mahala
Ed,
How about the lies and distortion perpetuated by the mainstream media, such as Fox propagandists Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham, all trained at the feet of Rodger Ailes, who rose to fame as a ruthless Republican media manipulator?
How do you propose to hold them accountable?
People too tired, ignorant or lazy to find the truth are easy fodder for propagandists. Tell them what they want to hear and manipulate the facts about the opposition to feed their fears. They will soon be eating out of your hand.
5
When the US changes governments in other countries as it often does, it spends trillions of dollars. When the enemies of the US like Russia, Iran, China, and North Korea want to change government in the US they spend a hundred thousand dollars and use Facebook. It is cheaper.
The US should learn. Next time try to get rid of Assad, the Taliban, and Gaddafi, using Facebook.
7
Wow, the “5th Estate” found four accounts. How many millions of accounts does Facebook have. How easy is it to create a new Facebook page. I work in this industry. I would be embarrassed if all found was 4 bad accounts. I’ll bet there easily a new 400 accounts that were created today.
A pathetic attempt to be perceived as taking action.
14
Facebook has a double standard when it comes to political advertising and hence is acting like a corrupt organization. It will take down state-backed disinformation campaigns, but it will not act on domestic dis-information campaigns that spread blatant lies and unsubstantiated rumors.
Why? Is it that state-sponsored bad actors don't provide as much ad revenue as domestic propagandists?
It is time Facebook got regulated like any public broadcaster.
7
RE: "Facebook said it wanted to be more transparent about where the speech is coming from. To that end, it will now apply labels to pages considered state-sponsored media — including outlets like Russia Today — to inform people whether the outlets are wholly or partially under the editorial control of their country’s government"
so, Zuck, are you going to include fox news in this labeling initiative?
6
Disinformation campaigns don’t include China. Hmm.
1
Oh wait! Wasn’t Barak Obama the first President to be elected with the help of FaceBook? Funny how when Obama harvested Facebook data on millions of users to win in 2012, everyone cheered.
3
It's how you use these platforms that is the problem. Every candidate engages with them to some extent, but not all candidates have foreign governments devoting fake profiles and concentrated dissemination of false information on social media.
It's like saying one candidate uses TV ads to spread lies but it's ok because I saw a different candidate on TV the other day.
7
@Bob C. Barack Obama didn’t spread lies and he’s not a foreign entity. But you know these differences, don’t you Bob? You knew them before you typed this or at the very least realized while you typed it. Still you clicked Submit. Hmm.
8
It never ceases to amaze me that so many people rely on Facebook for information.
A country gets the government it deserves.
7
@sondheimgirl
Look at how many viewers Fox News claims. Classic example of giving the none-too-bright what they want.
8
Removing a few 'state' sponsored accounts is window dressing. They didn't spend material amounts of money with Facebook, unlike the Trump reelection campaign, which spends tens of millions of dollars. Therefore, the Trump ads, which contain lies and falsehoods will continue to run. Vulture capitalism at its finest.
14
Every time I hear Mark Zuckerberg, I’m amazed that someone as clueless and incapable of understanding the ramifications of his policies and actions somehow managed to get himself into such a powerful position. Oh wait,....
8
Facebook can't be allowed to sell advertisement on it's site unless they can verify and own up the quality of the content.
If they fail; they need to face criminal consequences.
4
Peter Thiel sat on Facebook's board and his employees at his company Palantir were directly helping Cambridge Analytica use the illegally obtained data from Facebook that Facebook insisted did not happen until caught out.
Until Facebook comes clean about how Peter Thiel's company just "coincidentally" helped Cambridge Analytica at the very time they had Facebook data, we know that Facebook is there to cover up and do more harm.
Facebook is not trustworthy in the least since their goal is to cover up for their right wing board members and who knows how many of their minions who are still there calling the shots.
33
Zuckerberg and FB have all the receipts concerning 2015 to now. Let’s pry them from their cold, unethical hands.
8
whenever we get news like this, the offending posts need to be publicized so that we can know what it was and if we have interacted with it. to say stuff has been removed/policed doesn't really do us any good
6
Let's get real folks...
Facebook is both incapbable of, and uninclined to, every really properly moderate their community for truth and transparency.
They have shown us all they are incapable.
They have shown us all that $$ mean more then ethics or honesty in content on Facebook. $$ are also at the root of why they continue to allow YOUR personal information to be harvested and sold to anybody or any entity with cash in their hands.
They allow disinformation campaigns on their site for one reason and one reason only ---> revenue.... it's all about the Benjamins.
Unless/until there is wholesale public abandonment of Facebook as a social media instrument.. nothing will change.
9
"...the social network unveiled several new initiatives to reduce the spread of false information across its services, including an effort to clearly label some inaccurate posts that appear on the site."
This is quite ridiculous when Trump, Fox, InfoWars, et al have been doing the EXACT same thing since Trump started campaigning. The media might be protected by the First Amendment, but ANY politician who spreads divisive propaganda LONG after it's been debunked should be removed from office as a traitor to the United States.
It's said that only about half of eligible voters show up on election day - we can be sure the propagandist's fans will show up. The bottom line is if enough US citizens are swayed by this, and don't vote to remove it from our own government, we deserve what happens. People NEED to show up and vote these propagandists out of office.
5
It would be nice to know what positions these governments took in their postings.
1
@Steve S
Probably our politician that loses
Mr. Zuckerberg, Tear Down This Wall.
1
Ditto HR... institute an 19 month moratorium on the likes of Facebook... all of them. Just do it.
At a minimum make disinformation a criminal offense.
2
Since a segment of the population will believe anything, merely labelling fake stuff is not a solution. They will see F'book as part of the "deep state" that is sabotaging America. Remove the posts please.
4
Fakebook didn’t give a whit about who was publishing whit in their SELF PUBLISHING PLATFORM. They are an electronicctown hall where people use their publishing tools, technologies, and hacks to spew hate, ignirance, dusinformation.
Zuckerberg un-intentionally summed up their attitude about Russian interference (via at least Cambridge Analytics) that “that’s kinda a cray idea”. He was lying then and he)s lying. Iw. He’s a great match gir the Fake News in Chief, they both think that Freedom of Speech is liberty to say anything without consequence.
But Wall street will tell you the story if FB’s health. Keep the street happy and tell everyone else what you think they want to gear. Zuckerberg, Sandberg and the whole cabal have enabled treason...and profited from it.
3
How come facebook is able to control information flow in China, while claims that it's unable to do so for it's own country?
It's all pointing to money.. $$$
Mark Z - he cares for money more then the moral and his own country.
10
Since a large portion of Republican campaign money comes from Russia, all Republican ads should fall under the new labelling policy.
(See recent ProPublica research. Russia funnels millions. To Republican campaigns through phony corporations. PACs, the RNC, and individual candidates, as well as the Republican Senate and House committees.)
10
So, Facebook's current policy is "disinformation from outside the US = bad; disinformation from American politicians = legit campaigning"?
Falsehoods from foreign entities has to be called out, if not removed. But if the president or a presidential candidate lies on its platform they propose to do nothing.
We live in very strange times.
44
@Mark " if the president or a presidential candidate lies on its platform they propose to do nothing."
Virtually all political advertising shades the truth; its purpose is not to objectively portray the "truth" or inform the voter but to convince the voter to support your candidate. I would be very worried if there were a truth commission that would rule on the veracity of political statements. Remember, FB is just one media outlet among thousands of newspapers, radio stations and television. I think we are becoming near hysterical about the role FB plays in our elections. I still believe that the best answer to "bad" speech is more speech.
2
Iran is certainly not going to help Trump get re-elected. Looks like they have Russia outgunned, three to one.
Iran, if you are listening, I hope you are able to find Trump's tax returns. Any Deutsche Bank records linking Trump to laundered Russian money would also be helpful.
Same goes for you, China.
Don't worry about retaliation from the GOP, they have already agreed it is fine to ask for election interference from hostile foreign governments. In fact, their leader has openly said as much.
No rush, summer 2020 will be fine.
Welcome to Planet Trump!
38
Why are we allowing a corporation to dictate the management of election interference? Why is there no government agency to regulate? Because we have a President who still refuses to acknowledge that Russia influenced the results of the 2016 election in his favor. We have a Senate unwilling to consider legislation because the President becomes enraged when the issue is raised. And, if there were a vibrant regulatory agency in existence, the President would gut the staff and appoint his political lackeys to run it. We have to shame FB to do more.
24
Because our congress is totally dysfunctional. The Senate majority leader has made it clear that legislating is not on his agenda.
12
Would you really trust either the government or Zuck to determine what facts are ? Would they resist the opportunity to further there agendas ? I don't think so.
2
@Barbara The Trump campaign wouldn't have much left if you took away the lies spread on Facebook.
4
I do not have a facebook account. I believe this makes me smarter than the vast majority of those who do.
46
@Stevie
Not necessarily. But you ARE better informed than those who like their factoids spooned into their open mouths.
4
@Stevie
I quit Facebook right after the 2016 election. I was sickened by the constant flow of misinformation and propaganda that I witnessed there. I was astonished by how many people believed the garbage, and I was engaged by one person who I am sure was one of the Russian imposters who flooded the site.
I’m so glad I quit, because it really helped my mental health to do so. But I am troubled by the reality that so many still depend on what I would refer to as an anti-social platform. I hope one day users wake up and see Facebook and Twitter as tools for their own benefit and not as something that enslaves them to the ideas of others who wish them harm.
5
@Stevie I do not either and I am very limited on social media. But as bad as MZ has been they will just move on to instagram, twitter and other places and do the same thing. We have a big problem here.
4
If Facebook cannot police their own platform then they should close their site and get out of the social media business. Tired of hearing Zuckerberg's pathetic excuses.
69
@Susan
So who's job is it to stop propaganda coming from the White House... especially Trump's twitter feed and the sycophants who back him up?
2
There is no person or body which we could trust to be impartial when meddling with the flow of politically sensitive information. The final consumer of information has to look at the source and say " does this source have an agenda, political, financial, ideological ?
2
@John Ayres
You seem overly optimistic about the intelligence of the final consumer.
1
A few years ago, during heavy protests in Iran, I read an article published in the Western press detailing how the Pentagon was already testing its "Feed over email" system in Iran as well as in China. Recently, I read an article in NYT calling for the use of "circumvention technologies" to spread information to Chinese?
What information does the US intend to pass to people in these countries? And what is the end goal here? To stir up regime change once more and plunge these countries into chaos?
All I can say is that the US is a victim of its own doing. "Feed over email" was being tested when Obama was still President. Yet, when Russian influence operations during the 2016 operation were uncovered, the US had a problem.
The CIA also ran an extensive disinformation campaign in Iran prior to ousting the democratic government of Mohammed Mossadegh in 1953. It alleged Mossadegh, then battling a communist insurgency in the country's north was himself a communist in leaflets printed in Farsi and distributed throughout the country.
Karma some times has interesting ways of catching up eventually.
4
@Jack The difference being that the US hesitates to block access to Facebook.
Facebook is already blocked in China, and who doubts that Putin would do the same if there was a chance it could threaten his regime?
4
Why should Facebook police itself and than brag about its efforts to shut down "disinformation" on their site. They are now too big to work effectively and ethically in addition to having no journalistic credibility. Mark Z. has as much political sophistication as a college frat beer cooler.
23
I believe we should have initiated a social media blackout 18 months prior to the presidential election.
12
To bad Trump convinced so many of his followers that professional news sights are untrustworthy - - unbelievable that people are so gullible! This should be easy to combat by a pubic information campaign telling people to check the source BEFORE reading - - but alternative news is their news source.
2
Zuckerberg and Sandberg are not doing all they can to address disinformation campaigns. They are more committed to their wallets than the integrity of an election. Absolutely disgraceful.
8
@A Well they can't just let Elizabeth Warren become president and destroy Facebook now, can they?
2
@Mark
We can hope.
Okay Mark let's see if your claim about taking down "...disinformation campaigns...to reduce the spread of false information across its services, including an effort to clearly label some inaccurate posts..." is applied to Trump's media strategies ... without doubt the most sophisticated 'tooling' of facts based on constant monitoring via algorithms equaling the sophistication of Russia's attacks ... FB along with YT and Google continue to rake in cash while feeding Trump's base unending disinformation and deliberate lies ... Zuck is a lying, greedy 'entrepreneur' who feels that 'free market' 'ethos' allows an anything goes until you get stopped.
So how about a 5 day holding pattern for anything that remotely resembles disinformation/lies by setting the algorithms to a level of sensitivity that even the honest posters must wait 5 days (or 3 or whatever provides enough time) to determine if the post is legit? A level playing field is created for all and the more sophisticated media machines can't just throw stuff out knowing that, even though it will be taken down, it will have done its job ... they immediately toss another one out knowing it will do its job before being taken down.
A mandatory vetting period of 'x' days.
And if a group or say someone like Trump keeps posting lies then deny them access period, forever.
Chronic offenders will not be allowed to continue posting/tweeting.
4
THIS IS JUST BEGINNING for the 2020 cycle. Do we see the Trump fake administration doing anything about it? NO! His handler, Putin, would not permit that.
If Americans were smarter, they would severely limit theirs of FaceBook or delete their accounts, thus making them less-susceptible to political propaganda that they are unable to vet.
Facebook has become the center of the Universe for way too many people who cannot socialize with real humans and who're too lazy to take the time to seek TRUTH. When they abrogate their responsibilities to truth, they also abrogate their rights to choose leadership, in my humble opinion. Trump and his sycophants are the scariest result of this in recent history - and it's getting worse as he pollutes the waters of truth at every opportunity.
Teach you children well or they will repeat this horror.
7
Deleting Facebook will improve anybody’s life. Of that there is no doubt.
9
Why does Facebook prevent foreign countries from spreading lies and misleading information on its site, but let Donald Trump get away with it? A lie is a lie, no matter who is telling it, the first Amendment notwithstanding.
18
Facebook ... always a day, a week, a month or a year behind the trolls, the propagandists, the misinformers, the conspiracy theorists, the bad actors.
Never ahead.
3
Exactly what kind of disinformation was being published on Facebook? Was it related to 2020 or something else? Shouldn’t it be specifically exposed as fake?
2
Facebook has to be one of the most tone-deaf companies around. Along with the revelation of yet more foreign political interference on its platform, it refuses to bar patently false political ads and yet tries to hide behind the First Amendment. Add to this Facebook's ongoing efforts to launch a cryptocurrency in Libra after many of its partners have already headed for the exits and financial regulators around the world actively oppose it. For Facebook it's all about $$$.
4
Facebook is a swamp of misinformation on many levels, including politics and other subjects.
If you give your personal information to that organization, blame yourself if you get trolled or worse.
Rational people pay ZERO attention to FB and its "wild west" level of information from unvetted sources.
Zuckerberg is clueless.
6
So its ok for USA super PACs to have disinformation campaign ?
And we already know the channel Russia is pushing "clean" money to Trump campaign.. Remember Trumps personal lawyer ( last one is in Jail BTW ) last week stated his half million gift was "clean" money !
Thanks for the clarification !,
I need to dump all my facebook stocks and also the funds holding them .. just like a decade ago I dumped all other tobacco stocks!
For "middle class independents" like me Country comes first! USA USA!
2
Facebook has not be a good neighbor.
1
How about simply labeling the geographic origin of posts, and have it persist as they're re-shared?
An election meme posted in China or Russia will speak for itself. And don't tell me you can't figure out where the posts originate. You know literally everything about your users already.
4
Collecting and processing personal data and beyond — your wildest dreams is what FB does. For Zuck to claim otherwise is a ridicules lie. FB needs to abandon political adds — before it relegates our politics too the infinite mosh pit from which we will never extract ourselves.
2
Zuckerberg has said he does not care about truth, that he feels political ads and misleading news stories and videos that lie are an expression of free speech. Zuckerberg is disgraceful.
If you care about your data #DeleteFaceBook
4
Get OFF fb already! I PROMISE you, the sun will still come up tomorrow.
So sick of misinformation, disinformation, and Putinformation ruining Americans’ minds.
5
What about any disinformation efforts originating within American ' allies' like Egypt, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Pakistan, Philippines,Turkey, Saudi Arabia and South Korea?
2
So I’m supposed to believe, with all the power of the United States Government it can’t figure out how to stop or curtail the disinformation but Mark Zuckerburg has all the answers. If I believe that then I’m going to change my name to Suckerburg.
1
Misinformation campaigns from Russia and Iran? Ban!
Misinformation campaigns from the US White House? Well, ya see…
2
Remember someone who placed an ad in the New York Post assailing the Central Park 5?
1
In this scenario, President Trump meets the definition of a Russian Troll...plain and simple. He may not BE in Russia, he may not be a hacker, per se, but that he is a troll should be unquestioned.
2
@R. D’Amato If Trump were kicked off Facebook his base wouldn't see it as protecting the integrity of the election, they would see it as censorship.
Every attempt to hold the president to account is spun by collaborator-in-chief as persecution of The Donald. Even congressional oversight is an unacceptable infringement on the president's right to do whatever he pleases these days.
1
Delete Facebook today.
Save a democracy.
9
@Socrates
Delete vs. inactivate?
After Trump's tainted election in 2016, I inactivated my Facebook account as my FB family/friends were representative of the broad points of views that our American Experiment encourages. It was getting ugly.
It was reactivated in mid-2017, given its original appeal as a family/friend "website" for happy sharing of good news, cool photos, news articles and opinion columns.
I inactivated it again a few weeks ago, after the pending impeachment and the long wished for removal of Trump moved into the realm of even remotely possible. The result of Trump's imperiled presidency was accelerated polarization among even the limited number of FB contacts still following my posts. Got nasty fast.
On a related social media, hope filled note:
Trump's unfettered Tweets provide instructive "disinformation" which all but his most smitten followers more and more "see" more clearly as unfiltered projections of his worst traits (too numerous to count.) Altogether, Trump's tweets could themselves make up an entire article of impeachment.
Should the Senate Trial look like the OJ Simpson murder trial, with Chief Justice Roberts trying hard to avoid looking like the hapless Judge Ito, the GOP Defenders of his Tweets would be great television/YouTube "must see moments" to rouse the "sleeping giant" that could possibly save our democracy.
The enemy here is not some Russian bot. The enemy is American capitalism, as personified by the likes of Mark Zuckerberg. Open your eyes.
7
In 2011 I advised a then client on a number of issues related to regulations and disclosures. I learned that Facebook had filed a motion with the Federal Election Commission (Draft Advisory Opinion 2011-9 A & B) to be exempt from the disclosure requirement for political advertising. Because my then client was in the business of providing disclosures for short form content online, it chose to oppose Facebook at the FEC.
Much to the surprise of Facebook and its well established election law attorney, my client succeeded in preventing the FEC from issuing a blanket exemption to the disclosure requirement.
Sadly, Facebook ignored the FEC's decision and allowed political ads to run without the required disclosures. Fast forward to 2016 and the impact of its willful and active violation of the disclosure requirement was felt by all.
Happy to provide background information on this matter.
12
@NCPinATL
Thank you for your input.
How does Facebook continue to get away with this?
2
If Facebook can't police ALL the political content that appears on its site, it shouldn't publish ANY. The stakes are too high, and unfortunately, too many people are not equipped to tell fact from fiction.
10
@David DeSmith Hard to tell what is political in some cases, though.
If stories that promote racial or class divisions appear more frequently in the run up to an election, is it not political?
But does that mean you redact or remove all articles that mention race or nationality for six months before next November?
1
About once a week, I log into Facebook and see what my extended family is doing, and report all the obvious misinformation posts people from my very conservative home state and current area have shared, as False news. The last three weeks, there were dozens. Today, there were two. So that is hopeful, I suppose, unless FB's algorithms have just decided to not show me the stuff I was complaining about....
These FB rules and warnings should also be applied to our own political parties and candidates.
2
Thank you Facebook. It is not often that I commend your behavior. Your efforts to stem falsehood are acknowledged. We thank you for it. Keep going. Unfortunately, stopping is not an option.
Facebook, by its very nature is a company about information dissemination, a facilitator of information. And where there’s information, there’s disinformation. The good with the bad.
Allowing unchecked information to spread is suicidal. The greater amount of truth, the greater amount of credible. The is no higher standard than ‘The Truth.’
Partial truth should be limited in scope. Falsehood eliminated. We’re entering an era where the false outnumbers the true. Conflict is multidimensional. Filters on high.
FB should ban all political ads unless their veracity can be guaranteed.
16
Facebook wants the revenue that flows from providing a digital public space. They don’t want the responsibility. Responsibility costs them money.
4
The takeaway from this is basically don't believe what you read from Facebook. FB is becoming like Fox News. There is so much that's questionable about FB outside of this issue anyway. This article essentially is putting forth a buyer beware. If you are relying on FB for news, especially political, to inform your decision in 2020 then you knowingly are burying your head in the sand. FB didn't invent this process - but they made it easier for bigots of various shades to band together and reinforced their prejudices. FB doesn't spread news, it spreads propoganda.
Every rational person should question the source of the info they get online and not accept at face value.
19
@Brenda The problem is that people believe what they want to believe. It doesn't matter whether it comes from Facebook, InfoWars, the television or Matt in the office, if it feeds into what they already believed than it is accepted and if it doesn't then it is likely forgotten an hour later.
3
Nation states like China, Russia, Iran and the United States are disgusting. They routinely kill people, destroy the environment, and create massive inequality. Facebook: thank you for beginning the process of dismantling this archaic system of governance, by pouring gasoline on the political fires that could so easily overtake these institutions.
What's to stop Russia from picking up the phone and calling a right wing US group, a rich trump supporter, or Fox News to inject propaganda into the dialog? Promote a system where people believe there is regulation is going to be worse, and this has been proven by the European Union's vain attempts to regulate online speech.
Facebook, please use the intimacy of facebook to devalue identity politics, by nurturing transnational and neighbor to neighbor relationships with algorithm. Someone who lives in Alabama is more likely to have lifestyle options, values and goals in common with someone who lives in Rwanda than someone who lives in New York City.
Facebook, I want you to test and deploy technology that supports direct, online democracy, at the level of families, then localities and, ultimately at a global level. Let it start as an advisory democracy. When the people of the world can act in unison to use time-proven methods such as non violet civil disobedience and general strikes, every nation state can be made irrelevant, in the midst of a vibrant free market with environmentally just policies.
Facebook cannot police or enforce anti-corruption practices on their format. Therefore, Facebook should not be allowed to accept political ads. End of story.
98
I'm always in awe at how advanced technology has become, but, wouldn't the obvious solution be to block data originating from the offending countries by domain name?
3
Zuckerberg admits that Facebook is having trouble controlling false information on its site, and yet he wants to make a cryptocurrency that will make it easy to switch from Libra dollars to Libra euros? Or maybe from Libra rubles to Libra anythings?
Is it not enough that this company has helped serve as a platform for disinformation campaigns? Now they have to be a platform for laundering money?
Is "undermining democracy and world economies" one of Facebook's corporate goals?
I am really sick of Facebook. They need to be regulated, big time.
13
@Valerie I'm trying to work out whether Mr Robot's Evil Corp was supposed to be based on Facebook or if Facebook bases its strategy on Evil Corp.
2
And yet, Facebook continues to collect money for the bogus paid ads usually associated with these pages, appropriately using the First Amendment as a shield.
They can put all the labels they want on posts and ads, but it won't generate independent thinking. The people being influenced by material on social media will accept any lie as true as long as it fits whatever narrative that supports their beliefs and opinions. Facebook, I am sure, couldn't care less.
This is one reason why propaganda is so effective. And you cannot reach these people with the truth because it's instantly ferociously attacked, for instance, as fake news. This is why there is a constant false right-wing narrative. Whenever Trump talks he lies. I know this. Millions more do as well. But the Trump people take is a gospel. I think it's sleazy and beneath the dignity of the office Trump holds; but as we've seen over and over, there is no bottom for that man.
I don't see a mechanism for stopping this on Facebook or any other platform; especially when there is profit to be made.
Facebook could, perhaps, restrict targeting options, because they immeasurably improve effectiveness. You want to target people who support the NRA? Easy. Second Amendment? Easy. Conservatives? Easy. Marine Veterans? Easy. All four? Easy.
4
Though I have never used Facebook I am glad they are not overseen by the government. Freedom of press covers all and not just those who you agree with. The way to counter disinformation is with accurate information. In the end none of it matters is people are going to vote the way they want to vote and aren’t swayed by the nonsense on Facebook.
We all will lose if a third-party or the government gets to dictate what is published.
2
Hypocritical hogwash - as is usual from MZ and his crew at 1 Hacker way (no irony there).
Facebook "takes a hands-off approach" or be the "arbiter of what speech will be allowed" - except when it is economically beneficial to do so - say in China for example.
Russia Today combines the "opinion-making influence of a media organization with the strategic backing or the state". That applies to every politician and pundit in this country as well. If MZ thinks that his "platform" is somehow neutral, perhaps he should have a conversation with some Sandy Hook parents after what Facebook has allowed InfoWars to do to them.
Facebook, like gun makers, exist only to enrich a few owners - no matter how bad a health crisis it spawns or how many deflections its owners invent.
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@UH Pretty sure Facebook is blocked in China.
Just going to label them? What good will that do? They will just be stripped of the label and passed around amongst users.
Users will screen shot and remove any labels. But FB already know this and those Russian bot pay the money he wants.
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All FB cares about is more user data and ad revenue. "The moves suggest that while Facebook is amping up its protections ahead of the 2020 United States presidential election, malicious actors wanting to shape public discourse show no signs of going away." PR doesn't get any better than this. FB is becoming its own Fascist propaganda repository where their glorious mythic past is derived from a misconstrued understanding of the constitution.
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Facebook is quite happy to support Trump's right to conduct a disinformation campaign. They accept his advertising money and knowingly allow him to run ads filled with false information... which Zuckerberg tries to cloak this naked greed behind "free speech" terms.
Until this stops, playing whack-a-mole with Russian efforts is just a distraction by Facebook and attempt to garner positive PR from the media.
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@K & S Wow! You said it!
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"Facebook discloses..."? That's the pot calling the kettle black, isn't it?
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Do democracies around the world a huge solid and shutter yourself Facebook.
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You'd have to shutter the Internet.
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Lets not forget this story as well
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/04/technology/iranian-campaign-hackers-microsoft.html
Iranian hackers have been trying to influence Ince 2016! Where’s all the talk about that? Ben Rhodes too busy?
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Perhaps the greatest disinformation campaign is the Republican party's super pac advertisement blitz. Facebook has already decided to allow these despite the outright lies incorporated in many of them.
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@MC I totally agree and am very disappointed with the power of Facebook and other platforms controlling the spread of so much fake information
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When will FB take it's role in political ads seriously and use the same stringent standards as radio, tv and newspapers? when will they start refusing domestic disinformation campaigns from ConDon?
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@Nancy When we legislate them. These ads are worthy millions in revenue, they will never volunteer to police them in any serious way unless we require them to.
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When will ALL dis- and mid- information be made criminal?
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Just a reminder, these disinformation campaigns target both “sides.” The goal is to sow distrust and make the other side seem not just incorrect, but immoral. Be careful, even if the post agrees with your views. Liberals and conservatives are both targeted by this.
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I don't think this is anywhere close to proportional, even if we do see examples of far-left disinformation. Perhaps you are referring to name-calling reactions -- e.g. saying someone is stupid or ignorant for supporting a politician or agenda on the Right. I think disinformation examples are very hard to find relatively speaking -- compared to liberal-leaners getting upset and losing their temper/manners. Manners are out the window at some point.
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With respect to FB marking ads as of Russian or dubious origin vs. removing them entirely, perhaps this will make it obvious to those users who have been duped in the past that they cannot believe everything they read. Perhaps Trump supporters will think twice if they actually see on their FB feed how active Russia continues to be in swaying our elections.
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@Juud Unfortunately I think disinformation has already led to confusion between what is true, what is not, who to trust, and who to not. I don't think we live in a world where the crummy or legitimate nature of the source of an article matters to readers. Even if it did... Information is information, if you see a slogan enough times it will seep in, if you see an ad enough times -- even if you know its manipulative -- you'll still have a small desire to buy.
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@Juud You make a good point.
Facebook and the like are to all current generations what television was to the Boomer generation. If it's on TV (Facebook) it must be true. Slapping it with an untrue sticker puts a little reality into the fantasy.
Next, can the US government regulate Facebook, making THEM responsible for their content and adds like other media? Yes, it may mean the destruction of the platform. But you know what, if they can't make money with an honest business, then I say they're not worth it. A genuine apology to all those obsessed with it. But what else would there be to say? Addictions are tough to kick.
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Why are we allowing a corporation to dictate the management of election interference?
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@Dan Au because we the new(ish) America....is corporate. Who pays for the politicians favors? Tis ironic that a country which broke from a traditional rule of royalty/a few, that we have returned to that model....
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@Dan Au According to Zuke, it's free speech and he likes stuffing his pockets with gold while loading down fake information daily.
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@Dan Au FB took down four sites to appease the critics. But, Zuckerberg decided to leave the 100,000+ other sites untouched because Zuckerberg is afraid of losing his relevance.
How quaint, is that?
5