Facebook Has Ditched Independent Fact Checking
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I was listening to the radio whilst driving my car and I was scanning stations for something that took my fancy. The 5pm news came on and I was on a Queensland station that I knew to be owned and run as a Christian radio station. Their news announcer reported that Facebook was now allowing greater free speech on their platforms. This struck me as a strange way to report that Facebook has ditched independent fact checking on their social media platforms of Instagram, Threads and Facebook. I suppose I should not be surprised at this interpretation of facts by a Christian mouthpiece in Queensland.
Facts Mothballed By Facebook Social Media Platforms
Facts seem to get in the way of the Right’s definition of free speech. Whether something is true or not appears to be of less importance to folk who just want to feel free to say whatever they like. We, as a society, find ourselves in a strange situation, where alternative truths, which aren’t true, have currency just the same. Christians want to be able to persecute those they don’t think adhere enough to their way of living. They want to be able to kick them out of their schools and off the staff of their institutions. This is called religious freedom. It like Orwellian doublespeak.
Freedom Of Speech Means Free To Lie For Facebook
Now, I have had my posts rejected by independent Facebook fact checkers on the basis of them potentially offending someone. And it is annoying at the time and I did not agree with their interpretation. However, I just sucked it up and moved on. I would rather be victim of a little over zealousness than see the blatant lies, misinformation and disinformation which previously reigned unchecked to be disseminated. The re-election of Donald Trump, it seems, will champion such stuff once again. We are living in an age of deliberate wind ups and provocation.
“Fact-checking journalism has never censored or removed posts; it’s added information and context to controversial claims, and it’s debunked hoax content and conspiracy theories. The fact-checkers used by Meta follow a Code of Principles requiring nonpartisanship and transparency.”
Poking The Bear & Guess Whose The Bear?
Political operatives are utilising the algorithms of the social media platforms to manipulate mood and opinions. The Big Tech bros are burning holes, not only in your bank account, but in your spleen for their profits too. Enraging the populace to keep their eyeballs glued onto their disturbing fare. Getting everyone angry is the name of the game. The political strategists want an emotive reaction to their campaign fodder. The corporate bean counters want a greater advertising spend on the platforms they monitor. AI will be twiddling the dials from now on, with less actual human intervention involved at all. Push button machines making billions for the Elon Musk’s and Mark Zuckerberg’s’. The Big Tech bros are marching to the far right tune. South African apartheid sons.
Too God Damned Comfy To Be Happy
Meanwhile, you and I will be perpetually annoyed, angry even, and some will be itching for a fight. This at a time when sedentary lifestyles are literally killing us because of too many creature comforts in our lives. Unhappy despite all the labour saving devices. Pissed off for no real apparent reason. Apart from the dozens of screens in our daily lives spewing out shock horror, hate crimes, injustice, unfair greedy mother f****** in your face. Digital bullshit forever looking for a reaction from you. Count up how many screens you engaged with today. That many huh.
Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of Money Matters: Navigating Credit, Debt & Financial Freedom.
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