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Comment by phatskat | Hacker News Reader

They can’t be arsed to moderate their platforms in an effective way. Facebook has been a tool for genocide. Instagram harms young people (especially women). At the end of the day, Meta does whatever it can to make money, full stop.

As to your question

> why are you counting on them for news in the first place?

I think you know the answer. People use social media as a means to share and discuss a wide range of topics, including the news. You and I are doing it now, in fact!

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The global phone network and GPS have been tools of genocide too. We should govern communication on these platforms the exact same way we would if you were regulating a TV broadcast system where everyone can have their channel. If it would be illegal there it should be illegal on social media, and if it's not it's not.

Neither allow for discovery, let alone targeting at massive scale.

phone network and gps are an entirely different class of technology with entirely different capabilities and entirely different expectations.

a gathering of people in a online social space is much more likely to be judged closer to a gathering of people in a real world space. an owner of a social media space likely has similar responsibilities—legal and ethical—to the owner of a bar or other gathering space.

The phone network doesn't have search and doesn't have the ability to flood people with junk info.

1 to 1 communication is a lot easier to get right.

I don't even know what you mean by communication "on" GPS.

The really tragic thing is language. Despite the best efforts of modern progressive philosophers, most languages today contain violent words that have been used for eons to incite people into horrible rages. We all know that Hitler once used words to target Jewish people. Still, many today advocate for words to be available for use without regulation by completely untrained users.

> Facebook has been a tool for genocide.

This is very surprising news to me. What genocide?

> What genocide?

https://rsilpak.org/2022/facebook-genocide-and-social-medias...

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2022/09/myanmar-faceb...

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/amnesty-report-finds-face...

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/dec/06/rohingya-...

https://www.globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/digital-threats/r...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rohingya_genocide#Facebook_con...

https://www.google.com/search?q=facebook+genocide

> This is very surprising news to me.

https://xkcd.com/1053/

> "Facebook is the internet" - [amnesty.org]

I'm surprised this statement emerged from a UN "fact-finding mission". Regardless of how popular Facebook is in any given location, it's obviously not a factual statement. If Facebook wasn't available, Myanmar people wouldn't shrug shoulders and say "oh well, the internet is down".

> Regardless of how popular Facebook is in any given location, it's obviously not a factual statement.

Perception need not be a factual statement, but is still relevant.

https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/10/05/1036479/facebook... ("For huge parts of the world, Facebook is synonymous with the internet.")

https://medium.com/swlh/in-the-developing-world-facebook-is-... ("In the Developing World, Facebook Is the Internet")

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/jan/20/facebook-... ("How Facebook took over the internet in Africa – and changed everything")

https://qz.com/333313/milliions-of-facebook-users-have-no-id... ("Millions of Facebook users have no idea they’re using the internet")

No objections to relevancy. I argued against emotive exaggerated statements forming the conclusions of fact-finding.

Another one: "Dangerous algorithms". Can an algorithm be dangerous? Too late to debate, the fact-finding says they are. Any posts that counter the facts should be blocked right?

These horrendous crimes are a human problem, not an algorithm problem. Five years on from the atrocities, no member of the Myanmar security forces has yet been prosecuted for their crimes, according to amnesty. So not just a human problem, a legal problem too.

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