Friday, January 24, 2020
Facebook or Fakebook?
In recent times, Facebook has undergone heavy backlash for its dissemination of fake news despite being a self-proclaimed neutral party. Facebook has a massive user base, and a large proportion of those customers use the site as a news source — fake news or not, it is undeniable that Facebook is a significant provider of information in the modern digital age.
Yet Facebook provides an excellent environment for fake news to grow and flourish. Anyone can create a Facebook page dedicated to churning out misinformation, and these things can take off quickly. The news feed algorithm displays content catered to the individual and as such, creates an echo chamber that constantly exposes users to content they want to see, reinforcing their existing beliefs. Obviously fabricated content is consumed and shared on a daily basis, as noted in Eli Saslow's Washington Post article, even when such posts are clearly delineated as fake. Facebook provides the necessary petri dish to cultivate a culture of fake news.
But does the responsibility of moderation fall on the platform? Fake news is not a concept new or unique to Facebook. Sure, the structure of the company's business model and ad targeting does facilitate the spreading of fake news to some extent, but quite frankly, if there is anything more frightening than an unaware, misinformed minority becoming more unaware and misinformed, it is censorship. Censorship at the hands of a massive tech giant. Allowing corporations to decide what is real or fake seems like a promise of a dystopian future. This power to decide lies in the hands of the individual — to seek out the truth, or perhaps in this case, better news sources.
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This is an interesting take on how Facebook facilitates fake news as well as the extent of their responsibility to get rid of it. On the one hand, Facebook is allowing for the spread of misinformation, but on the other hand, removing content would be at the expense of free speech as you note. I'm curious how you weighed the ethical consequences of censorship versus misinformation in order to decide that censorship is worse. Did any of the readings play into this conclusion?
ReplyDeleteIn your last paragraph, you ask the question, "does the responsibility of moderation fall on the platform?" I was curious to read what you thought. By pivoting to your point that censorship is worse than fake news, it's still not clear where you believe the responsibility falls. Even if you believe that Facebook shouldn't censor their users, there could still be some responsibility placed on the platform regarding moderation.
Hi Qhoe, from your blog I can see how you perceive Facebook as having an interesting dynamic in the sense that they fall between a platform to voice one's opinion and the other being a news source. You also bring up some interesting discussion questions in regards to who is to be blamed for the spread of misinformation. I would like to have seen more thoughts in regards to the Eli Saslow's article in regards to why people are believing these "fake-news" anyways.
ReplyDeleteWhile this post does mention Saslow's article, it does not go into any depth on the themes expressed in the article. It might help moving forward if you make a greater connection between your thoughts and the reading you are referring to moving forward. However, the visuals are great and really help progress the reader through the blog post.
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