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'The Big Delete:' Inside Facebook's crackdown in Germany

33 Comments
By DAVID KLEPPER

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I am once again asking the right wing posters on this forum who make allusions to Nineteen Eighty Four to actually read the book at least once.

-3 ( +16 / -19 )

*“Reading is fundamental” - Yubaru “LadyBird” Johnson, 1966*

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Finally Facebook does something responsible. I guess their image has taken a battering recently.

-7 ( +8 / -15 )

Now apply it to the anti-vax

Majority of the anti-vax are on the left..

https://www.blackenterprise.com/leader-of-black-lives-matter-new-york-chapter-calls-vaccine-mandates-racist-and-disrespectful/?test=prebid

5 ( +12 / -7 )

Majority of the anti-vax are on the left..

Then why is it that mostly Republicans have refused the vaccine?

Do you think registered Republicans are dyed-in-the-wool commies?

-7 ( +5 / -12 )

Thank goodness - rationality and facts win out over far-right Q conspiracies and plots by Deep State Alien Reptiles....

Almost all of this disinformation comes from the Kremlin and the CCP - trying to twist those weak of mind to spurn democracy and embrace authoritarianism...

And for almost the entire Republican Party, it's worked....

-4 ( +7 / -11 )

FB finally takes action against disinformation spreaders (AKA liars).

To bad it took a major reputation ding to get Zuck to do what’s right.

-5 ( +6 / -11 )

Bob Fosse, Communist regimes are authoritarian. Not all authoritarian regimes are Communist.

The state depicted in 1984 would in some respects make a close fit to how things are evolving in China, though the description was not overtly intended to be Communist but applicable to any authoritarian regime including at the time Stalinist Russia or the recently defunct Nazi regime in Germany.

Animal Farm is overtly a depiction of a Communist state.

Giving unregulated power to a private company and in particular the owner of that company to dictate the nature and shape of the discourse in any country is a path to an authoritarian censorship albeit not necessarily state run. The failure of internet media companies to prevent the spread of violent, extremist and irrational content is as reprehensible as partial efforts to act which are open to potential political bias.

4 ( +7 / -3 )

Bob Fosse, Communist regimes are authoritarian. Not all authoritarian regimes are Communist.

Yes.

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

@Express: I am once again asking the right wing posters on this forum who make allusions to Nineteen Eighty Four to actually read the book at least once.

1984 was about the power of the surveillance state to enforce one view of the world through indoctrination, propaganda, fear, and censorship. Big Tech is clearly moving in that direction. They surveile user activity tracking users from device to device, threaten to take away free speech rights, and in fact do censor views and ban speech. Like Big Brother they allow only speech that is compliant with their Leftist worldview. The erosion of freedoms illustrated by Facebooks crackdown in Germany is growing worse year by year. Worse still they sell information about you to like minded corporations for profit. Ingsoc is all that is left. It’s sickening.

3 ( +7 / -4 )

Giving unregulated power to a private company and in particular the owner of that company to dictate the nature and shape of the discourse in any country is a path to an authoritarian censorship albeit not necessarily state run.

Unregulated? Uh-huh.

-4 ( +1 / -5 )

Perhaps FaceBook would be so kind as to promptly share with EU electronic privacy experts ALL of the algorithms that it used - and is still using - so that Europe can determine exactly EVERYONE that was chosen for censorship, restriction, sanction, and removal.

In other words, once FB was in the mood to cast off its censor nets, what exactly did they try to catch, and what precisely did they release? Any legitimate political party officials in the performance of legitimate party communications, that (potentially) FB just didn't like? Or want to see elected? Plus, did they allow any of their chose "celebrities" to continue on without notice or intervention, when his/her/their conduct would otherwise have clearly earned a huge squash?

Show the algorithms!

Raises many, many questions, doesn't it. The potential for Corporate FB to become an unwelcome force in European politics is as possible as it is disturbing. Small wonder FB in particular and Big Tech in general gives both EU privacy experts and European election officials agida!

4 ( +5 / -1 )

The idea of Facebook was naively optimistic in that it will only be used for purposes of bringing friends together. Unfortunately society at large is not that good. and FB quickly became full of dangerous crap, the results of which we saw on Jan 6th and now with all the antivaxxers spreading their dangerous delusions...

-3 ( +3 / -6 )

Like Big Brother they allow only speech that is compliant with their Leftist worldview.

I think that what you are saying is that you want lies & hate speech to carry the same weight as facts and reason, and you want those Alt-Facts to be given the same respect as real facts. That's not happening because the majority of the world sees no benefit in this, as in this case.

And the fact is that the 'Leftist worldview' is more logical, reasonable and progressive than the increasingly desperate, ridiculous fantasy world that the right is embracing.

If nutty right-wing theories were anywhere near to the mark then 'Rightist worldview' social media, search engines, chat engines etc would be proliferating. They clearly aren't, so by simply going about my daily clicking life I can help to encourage information providers to filter out the nasty nonsense that you embrace, thus saving me precious seconds.

-5 ( +4 / -9 )

-I am once again asking the right wing posters on this forum who make allusions to Nineteen Eighty Four to actually read the book at least once.

I have read Orwell's novel, I'm not right-wing and I am against all imposed censorship. A left-wing dictatorship is as toxic, as dangerous and as objectionable as a right-wing one.

Social media should switch to an elective self-censorship model that allows individuals to block any content they do not wish to see.

2 ( +5 / -3 )

FaecesBook should be regulated (made obey national law) like any utility company. It is just a provider of internet visibility for an average consumer. At present, FB is unregulated so it happily tries to model public according to Zuckerbad's ideas.

2 ( +6 / -4 )

Censoring opinion is wrong but preventing the posting of factually false information that endangers the health and welfare of others should be prevented on Facebook and other social media sites including one very good one based in Tokyo.

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

The same thing is going on on Youtube and Twitter. The Big Tech moguls have now declared themselves to be the arbiters of truth.

This 1984 like thought control is much worse than this virus, which is used as an excuse.

-2 ( +5 / -7 )

Mr Kipling

Censoring opinion is wrong but preventing the posting of factually false information

But who decides what is "wrong"? The so-called "fact checkers" at Big Tech? They have been censoring nobel prize winning scientists and academics if they deviate from the official narrative.

If Fakebook and Youtube decides what is true and what is not, do we need science and dialog at all anymore?

-1 ( +6 / -7 )

Censoring opinion is wrong...

When done by the state for sure. But other types of organizations censor stuff all the time. You can't post anything you want on the notice board of a local shop or church or sports center or even on Japan Today. Is Facebook so different?

-1 ( +3 / -4 )

akadake

FaecesBook should be regulated (made obey national law) like any utility company. It is just a provider of internet visibility for an average consumer. At present, FB is unregulated so it happily tries to model public according to Zuckerbad's ideas.

That's how China would see it. Other governments recognize that it is a private company.

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

*provably, not probably.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

I think the nutter shooting that poor student working at a petrol station triggered the response. However, there had been numerous accounts of misguided folks attacking shop assistants asking them to put a mask on, spitting at emergency service workers and policemen beforehand.

Lots of videos anti-mask, anti-vac activists screaming their hate everywhere, and that's just Germany.

I want to scream back, "Your freedom? Free yourself from the laws of having to wear a seat belt and next time you hit a tree, fell it with your teeth like a beaver! Your children? Teach them at home and have the government taken from you to place them in a proper home where they can get education! Your right as a citizen? What about your DUTY as a citizen?"

I could go on but the point is: Facebook and their ilk need to take responsibility for the rabble they have risen.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

If nutty right-wing theories were anywhere near to the mark then 'Rightist worldview' social media, search engines, chat engines etc would be proliferating.

If the left were so confident in their messaging then they wouldn't try and drown out any conservative counter-arguments.

They clearly aren't, so by simply going about my daily clicking life I can help to encourage information providers to filter out the nasty nonsense that you embrace, thus saving me precious seconds.*

That goes both ways.

-3 ( +3 / -6 )

@Express: I am once again asking the right wing posters on this forum who make allusions to Nineteen Eighty Four to actually read the book at least once.

1984 was about the power of the surveillance state to enforce one view of the world through indoctrination, propaganda, fear, and censorship. Big Tech is clearly moving in that direction. They surveile user activity tracking users from device to device, threaten to take away free speech rights, and in fact do censor views and ban speech. Like Big Brother they allow only speech that is compliant with their Leftist worldview. The erosion of freedoms illustrated by Facebooks crackdown in Germany is growing worse year by year. Worse still they sell information about you to like minded corporations for profit. Ingsoc is all that is left. It’s sickening.

Hmmmm.... Says Big Tech is creating 1984 by indoctrination, propaganda, and censorship....

Sounds like the far-right Fox/Breitbart/Newsmaxx/OANN/Russia Today bubble to me...

Dupe those weak of mind and keep them outraged and angry, while emptying their bank accounts....

Welcome to MAGA-world....

2 ( +2 / -0 )

If the left were so confident in their messaging then they wouldn't try and drown out any conservative counter-arguments.

Being right doesn’t mean having to tolerate lies. There’s only so much strychnine you can tolerate before it kills you. Or should I say horse meds?

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Facebook, you must show your algorithms to EU and German experts! Europe (and the rest of the world, for that matter) has a right to know if and how much social media influence amounts to actual interference and undue influence in European elections.

There was a hearing in the U.S. yesterday, before the House of Representatives' Science, Space, and Technology Committee's Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight. The Right Honourable Bill Foster is Chair.

They were assembled for a hearing entitled "The Disinformation Black Box: Researching Social Media Data."

He opened by telling the committee that it is "extremely difficult for researchers to gain sufficient access to social media data," because the information that the companies do supply " is largely through interfaces they control, meaning that researchers can only see what companies want them to. And access can be cut off at any time." He also complained that social media gives its advertisers "more access to data than academic researchers looking to assess the impact of promoted posts."

And those were some of the nicer things that were said.

Then expert witnesses spoke up.

Dr. Mislove told the committee that social media's "power and influence has reached new heights," and that Facebook, in particular, actively obstructs researchers looking into their practices, going so far as to threaten litigation against organizations like Algorithm Watch, who wold report FB's misconduct to the public.

Dr. Edelson went so far as to tell the committee that "Facebook amplifies misinformation and extreme content. Facebook’s most influential and powerful users are often the ones spreading the most far-reaching misinformation because Facebook doesn’t apply its own policies and rules evenly." She concluded that the platforms cannot be trusted to police their own conduct.

https://science.house.gov/hearings/the-disinformation-black-box-researching-social-media-data

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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