NBC News: “In summer 2019, a new Facebook user named Carol Smith signed up for the platform, describing herself as a politically conservative mother from Wilmington, North Carolina. Smith’s account indicated an interest in politics, parenting and Christianity and followed a few of her favorite brands, including Fox News and then-President Donald Trump.” “Though Smith had never expressed interest in conspiracy theories, in just two days Facebook was recommending she join groups dedicated to QAnon, a sprawling and baseless conspiracy theory and movement that claimed Trump was secretly saving the world from a cabal of pedophiles and Satanists.” “Smith didn’t follow the recommended QAnon groups, but whatever algorithm Facebook was using to determine how she should engage with the platform pushed ahead just the same. Within one week, Smith’s feed was full of groups and pages that had violated Facebook’s own rules, including those against hate speech and disinformation.”
youtube's the same way. You watch an edgy Rogan video and you'll be bombarded w/the latest antivax nonesense.
I've never forgotten how after moving to a new apartment three years ago with a new, out of box smart TV and new just installed Internet with no account signed in to Youtube, I was bombarded with the most horseshit anti-science conspiracy channels as a default user.
Not stopping 'Stop the Steal:' Facebook Papers paint damning picture of company's role in insurrection https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/22/business/january-6-insurrection-facebook-papers/index.html
Most people use FB to keep track of old friends and ignore the other stuff. Not sure how they even make money off those people.
“Five years ago, Facebook gave its users five new ways to react to a post in their news feed beyond the iconic ‘like’ thumbs-up: ‘love,’ ‘haha,’ ‘wow,’ ‘sad’ and ‘angry,’” the Washington Post reports. “Behind the scenes, Facebook programmed the algorithm that decides what people see in their news feeds to use the reaction emoji as signals to push more emotional and provocative content — including content likely to make them angry. Starting in 2017, Facebook’s ranking algorithm treated emoji reactions as five times more valuable than ‘likes,’ internal documents reveal. The theory was simple: Posts that prompted lots of reaction emoji tended to keep users more engaged, and keeping users engaged was the key to Facebook’s business.” “The company’s data scientists confirmed in 2019 that posts that sparked angry reaction emoji were disproportionately likely to include misinformation, toxicity and low-quality news.”
FB has become a defense contractor serving a weaponized Balkanization platform to several government intel agencies.
Hey Jethro, run on down to Walmart and pickup some poligrip for memaw and while you at it, grab a carton of Chesterfields and a pint of purple drank.