A few diaries have recently been written about fact checking efforts at Facebook and the Washington Post. Based on my reading of the comments, many Kossacks here think that such efforts are #FineAndDandy, and wish that they had already been implemented like yesterday. This diary is primarily addressed to them.
You know that awesome technology currently being developed to mock and ridicule Trump, and to suppress “fake news”? Yeah, in the wrong hands that technology can also be used to mock and ridicule YOU and to suppress discussion of controversial issues that YOU truly care about. For example, is the #NoDAPL movement a worthy cause that we should hear more about? Or is it the actions of trouble-makers who deserve no sympathy whatsoever? The elites view them as troublemakers, of course, as is anyone who stands between them and their next $$$. Obama asked the pipeline builders nicely if they could please cut it out, but they ignored him. If only there was something more that he could do …. The “credible” media has been pretty much silent on this issue, but “fake news” guys like Jordan Chariton, Tim Black, and the Young Turks have been doing their best to keep the story alive.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmjsIWaWzI8&feature=share
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVR6euP2G2o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkCI61pzITw&feature=share
Typically it is Republicans who fail to see the dangers of such “solutions”, and us overly-cerebral Democrats are the ones who cry out for others to slow down for a minute and think. Typically it is Republicans who are eager to be rid of that pesky Bill of Rights, except for that second one, and it is we Democrats who understand the necessity and value of fighting for minority rights.
Be careful about what you wish for.
And try to remember that Republicans,
many of whom who preach that climate change and evolution are both a hoax,
are about to gain control of ALL THREE PARTS of government.
Who decides what is a “fact” and what is not?
This is a very important question, a question that should not be answered lightly.
Are you aware that Facebook employees who are most familiar with Facebook technology, originally developed to censor users in China, have left the company in protest? This news comes from zerohedge.com, another “fake news” site that has posted items critical of HRC and Obama:
Facebook Employees Are Quitting Because Users Are Being Censored
The war on “fake news” embarked upon by Facebook, Google, and Twitter may be earning the media goliaths brownie points with establishment politicos, but users — and even employees — aren’t feeling as enthusiastic.
In the midst of backlash over the stunning victory of President-elect Donald Trump, which some people attribute to the preponderance of apocryphal headlines disseminated by Internet search engines and social media platforms, the companies are tweaking their algorithms in order to target specifically blacklisted sites, many of which happen to be alternative media sites that question the political and media establishment. Many of the sites are also financially dependent on ad revenue earned by organic and referral traffic directed by Google, Facebook, and Twitter.
Now, it appears Facebook’s new algorithmic censorship practices are causing some of its employees to quit. According to the New York Times, three current and former anonymous employees claim the company has had a new tool developed specifically to restrict certain kinds of posts from appearing in users’ news feeds in certain geographic areas. This form of censorship has been deployed under the auspices of facilitating Facebook’s entry into the Chinese market. Previously, the company did this in Pakistan, Russia, and Turkey, where the respective governments requested the ability for third parties to review and block posted content. Facebook granted the requests and removed approximately 55,000 total pieces of content.
Hmmm, I know I should ignore them because they are not credible, but here they are quoting from the NYT ... that site is still “real news,” I think (I haven’t checked the latest list of approved sites though, so I can’t be sure). According to the NYT:
The suppression software has been contentious within Facebook, which is separately grappling with what should or should not be shown to its users after the American presidential election’s unexpected outcome spurred questions over fake news on the social network.
Several employees who were working on the project have left Facebook after expressing misgivings about it, according to the current and former employees.
Fortunately, we can completely trust all decisions made by immensely powerful, profit-seeking entities like Facebook, Google, and Twitter. They might develop and deploy censorship software to be used over in China, but those corporations know that us red-blooded Americans would never stand for censorship here. Americans would never allow it. Or would we? Is it possible that some of us are actually clamoring for technology that will do exactly that right now?
Democratic leaders are capable of doing great damage
when their base swallows propaganda put out by the Democratic party itself,
and WITHOUT EVEN THINKING TWICE while they do it.
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Imagine for a moment that all traces of YOUR version of events (the correct version, of course) gets “erased” because of the algorithms of Google, Facebook, Twitter, and MSM outlets.
Who among us is eager to see a Ministry of Truth established in front of our very eyes?
I have been putting up with the sewage that is Fox News for over two decades, I think. I always thought the reason that we had to put up with it was because Free Speech. But now, within a month or so of Hillary having lost the election, the Democratic base is applauding the thought of “fact-checking,” without giving one thought to the fact that in less than a month, Republicans will gain control of all three branches of government.
Friends, let’s be fucking careful about what we wish for.