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Somewhere along the line, they realised that deploying a bunch of KGB-style bots on Facebook was a hell of a lot more effective at controlling people than simply banning it. When dissent results in a crushing flood of mean-spirited trolls, who needs censorship?

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You cannot remove ideas from the mind but you can flood it with so much misinformation that the ideas are basically destroyed.

Effectively, people will "block Facebook" from themselves through self-censorship or completely writing off Facebook as a "poisoned well."

Are you implying this would be a bad thing?

While I think the internet provides amazing and revolutionary communications options to the human race, Facebook is quite clearly not among them.

Yes. It's the bad thing. Who is to decide whether FB is bad? If you want to fight disinformation on FB, then fight it. But discriminate against using FB is the not the way.

Each individual would choose for themselves whether FB is bad... That's why he said self-censorship. Is there a better alternative when fighting disinformation isn't an option that an individual can (or would) realistically choose?

Hey, if you can't beat them, join them (for values of join that include paying their startlingly effective mercenary army more money to switch sides and work for you instead).

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