‘Hate Speech and Disinformation Flow on Facebook’
“There’s a real question over whether Facebook is just too damn powerful, and whether we need further regulatory and legislative interventions to hold this company accountable to the people.”
Jessica González on Facebook’s Promotion of Hate
Facebook has accommodated Donald Trump, allowing him to post false, incendiary and racist comments that would get another person sanctioned.
Facebook’s Soleimani Ban Flies in Face of First Amendment
If Facebook is removing content because it believes it is required to do so by law, that is government censorship—and forbidden by the Constitution’s guarantee of freedom of the press.
US Media Lament Internet Censorship—in China, Not US
Corporate US media are ready to decry apparent censorship when it originates in what’s deemed an enemy state. Yet they fail to sound the alarm when US tech companies demonstrate clear patterns of restricting information.
Facebook Wants You to Know if You’re Getting Your News From the Wrong Government
If you’re thinking that Facebook–90 percent of whose customers are not in the United States–should treat Russian-backed outlets differently than US-backed outlets because the US supports peace and democracy, or doesn’t use social media to try to manipulate other nations…. Well, this is why it’s important to get your information from a variety of sources.
Facebook Fights ‘Fake News’ by Teaming Up With US Catspaws
The US government and its allies are effectively using the platform to silence dissenting opinion, both at home and on the world stage, controlling what Facebook‘s 2 billion users see and do not see.
Facebook’s New Propaganda Partners
That these two US government creations, along with a NATO offshoot like the Atlantic Council, are used by Facebook to distinguish real from fake news is effectively state censorship.
That Facebook Will Turn to Censoring the Left Isn’t a Worry—It’s a Reality
Progressives should not necessarily shed tears for Alex Jones, but they should be aware that their media is next in line, and that Jones’ deplatforming sets a dangerous precedent that is already being used against them.
Soundbites July 2018
GOP Attacks, NYT Parrots… With Neutrality Like This, Who Needs Allies?… Facebook’s Foreign-Funded Watchdog on Foreign Influence… Frank of Dodd/Frank Now Frank of the Bank… NYT Accepts That Charging Feminists With Treason ‘Undermines Reformist Credentials’… Staff Cartoonist Rob Rogers Fired
Media Ignore Government Influence on Facebook’s Plan to Fight Government Influence
The outlets that covered Facebook’s partnership with the Atlantic Council failed to examine the motives of the DC think tank, its funders, or the broader premise that “fake news” and “foreign meddling” were something in need of combating.
Could Ida B. Wells Have Exposed Lynching on Your Newsfeed?
Would Ida B. Wells’ exposes of lynching ever have made it into my news feed on Facebook? I doubt it, because Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced May 1 in a meeting with media executives that his company had started ranking news organizations by “trust.”
Who Will Take on the 21st Century Tech and Media Monopolies?
Waves of consolidation in the technology, telecom and entertainment industries have concentrated power over media content and delivery into just a handful of companies. Today, there are only a few dominant players in each industry.
Privacy and Social Media: It’s Complicated
People sometimes talk about privacy like it’s a single thing that people want more or less of, when it’s really a number of different things that people put different values on.
The Price of Twitter Is Based on the Cost of You
On the verge of an IPO, Twitter is estimated to have a market value of $15-16 billion. What does that mean for our society?
Not Much Diversity Among Media’s ‘Stay-at-Home Dads’
News outlets have been profiling stay-at-home fathers, who say they love being there for their kids even though it was hard to transition from the workforce to full-time parenting. It’s good to see media addressing gender norms, but there was not a lot of diversity among the interviewees in this small sample of articles.
Bob McChesney on Internet Giants and the National Security State
Last week on CounterSpin, we spoke with scholar and media historian Bob McChesney about his new book Digital Disconnect. His closing thoughts seems especially relevant in light of the blockbuster reporting this week from the Guardian and Washington Post.
Facebook Is Losing Your Mail in Hopes of Receiving More Bribes
Back in May, Facebook introduced its Promoted Posts program, giving groups and companies with pages on the social media site the option of paying to get their posts seen by more of their fans. The way Facebook works is that you don’t see every post by every friend or every page that you like–Facebook has […]
Spreading the Word in the Era of Social Media
In the era of social media, the audience itself has a big say in how big the audience is. If you’d like FAIR’s messages to reach more people, there’s a number of simple things you can do to help. 1. Comment on the blog. A lively comment section draws readers to a blog. If you […]
Sarah Palin, Health Policy Expert
A bit of NBC Nightly News last night, from reporter Mike Viqueria: But now Mr. Obama faces more friendly fire. After a key committee passed a plan to pay for reform with a tax on high-cost policies, major unions, normally Obama allies, took out full-page newspaper ads complaining that the tax will hit labor hardest […]
