Hacker News Reader

Facebook et al. should have looked at "fact checking" as a product, rather than a (voluntary) regulatory compliance measure.

There's a pretty straight line for them to deliver value through it via crowd sourcing, in a way they're uniquely positioned to.

Instead, the current implementation is basically a Section 230 PR stunt to deflect public outrage ('Sure we have terrible things on our platform, but see, they have a warning!').

View on HN

It's more than just a nuisance though. It comes off as arrogance to their users and a big brother feel to it. Not sure crowd sourcing would be any better, because it would involve people "ganging up" on each other and would be inflammatory. Fact-checking involves somebody's own search for truth. There's an independence to searching things out, feeling along for sources you trust. Trust isn't gained by a simple textbox warning.

I think that generally people are in favour of so called "fact" checking, if the results of that fact checking align with their beliefs. As a silly analogy, how about a road that gave you a thumbs up when you had the right of way? The platform is an authority, and we like authority to echo our own beliefs.

ah, yes, not always easy to tell the difference between fact and opinion.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com