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Comment by mancerayder | Hacker News Reader

How soon before stuff like this is marked as misinformation if it isn't coming from established media outlets? You know, dangerous conspiracy theories, and all that. Real world consequences, etc. and so forth.

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Are you saying an opinion piece stating that we should leave open the possibility of a leak is misinformation? That doesn't make any sense.

Not OP, but I'm assuming he was arguing that, given that the major social media platforms have said they will remove any Covid information that is misleading, would they even allow posts like this "suggesting the possibility of a Wuhan lab leak is plausible".

Note Facebook has previously explicitly banned posts "falsely claiming the virus is man-made". Source: https://www.npr.org/2021/02/08/965390755/facebook-widens-ban...

From FB's policy https://www.facebook.com/help/230764881494641

  " Claims that it was created by an individual, government, or country

    Excluding claims that it was studied in, came from, or leaked from a lab without specifically calling it man-made"

So discussing possibility of a lab leak is not a problem, it's the deliberate bioweapon aspect that they're banning.

  "The goal of this policy is to remove common viral hoaxes that have been repeatedly debunked by independent fact-checkers."

> So discussing possibility of a lab leak is not a problem, it's the deliberate bioweapon aspect that they're banning.

And the virus being man-made is not a possibility?

https://www.nature.com/news/engineered-bat-virus-stirs-debat...

Things aren't black and white, free-speech vs evil. The editor's note on your link illustrates the problem.

The editor's note says there is no evidence that this is the case. There is no strong evidence about anything regarding what are the origins of the virus. But it's still entirely within the realm of possibility that it could be true.

Sure, things aren't black and white and I never said they were. But Facebook will ban you for suggesting that it's possible that the virus is man-made, right? So they're the 'extremists' here.

How are these Fact Checkers to decide on a complicated and political question like a Wuhan lab leak hypothesis? They have a claim to truth, based on what credentials or mechanisms, that the rest of us don't have access to?

https://youtu.be/l7o4A16QCxE

Hidden camera investigation of Facebook moderators (ie fact checkers)

That's exactly it. They're not trying to crack down on misinformation, they're just trying to create a monopoly wherein established outlets are able to filter what's True and grey out what is False or Misleading.

They're fact-checking goddamn memes. Recently they "fact-checked" a meme with Joker on it and text "The truth will set you free. Except on Facebook, where it will get you a 30 day ban", and called it "missing context". Now the entire fanpage is gone.

I guess you haven’t been paying attention to what’s happening with tech companies who get to control types of media.

No, I was echoing the mainstream media and many articles - including on this very site - pushing and wishing and demanding a crackdown on misinformation. And I sarcastically asked the crowd whether this article means only mainstream media outlets are allowed, permitted, to suggest conspiracies.

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