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Comment by maedla | Hacker News Reader

Facebook was used as a tool to incite genocide in Myanmar.

Genocide has existed long before Facebook.

Facebook is not water, it is a thing both made by and employing people, people which many other people hold to a higher standard than Facebook has lived up to.

It wanted to move fast and break things. It did. People don’t like that it did.

Facebook is a tool. It can be used for good (the majority of the use) or it can used for evil (some of the use). You can attribute the same good-evil distribution to virtually everything.

Yes, it is a tool.

“Evil flourishes when good men do nothing”. They are giving every appearance of doing as little as they can get away with, while pretending to do more. Should the rest of us let them do as little as possible?

Perhaps the outward appearance is different from the internal reality, but I cannot judge except by appearance.

The rest of us make up the people that are on these platforms driving the problem. Should Facebook-the-company do more to limit the abuse? Absolutely -- it's within their power and ability. Is Facebook-the-company the party responsible for spreading misinformation? No, misinformation is driven by people and organizations who, without Facebook, would find different ways of doing so like they have before Facebook.

That's my opinion and I understand there are many folks who have similarly logical opinions countering mine. For what it's worth, I don't even use Facebook and haven't for years. I personally don't find use in it but know others who do.

> Is Facebook-the-company the party responsible for spreading misinformation? No, misinformation is driven by people and organizations who, without Facebook, would find different ways of doing so like they have before Facebook.

I disagree on two grounds:

1. Facebook actively manages and develops an algorithm for what to show to whom

2. Joint liability, or possibly several liability

My understanding is it was the military and police that committed genocide. The people who are normally responsible for massive violence.

While true, and while it may be the case that the propaganda which led to the genocide would’ve used a different route had Facebook not been available, they did allow themselves to be a tool of a state engaged in genocide despite the T&C giving them the means to prevent such use.

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