Perhaps not a surprise but it is a reminder that social media is being used by political parties to shape our opinions. And a reminder that alternative media is not a source of news at all.
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I wouldnât trust what the Guardian says either or any in Fleet Street.
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I enjoy reading the Guardian online also The Telegraph online when I paid the subscription .
Somewhere in between you get a balanced view
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I would certainly take the views of any newspaper with a serious pinch of salt. But if those views stimulate thought - then thatâs good. I would also be wary of how newspapers present news stories (news being different from views) to consider what angle they might be promoting.
But where do you seek news if not from newspapers? TV? Please tell me its not via social media.
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That is exactly what you are trying to do here isnât it - attempt to influence the way people source their news?
Any type of forum is a hot bed of views and âagendasâ and people will use it as an opportunity to âshapeâ the way people think - itâs up to every one of us to try to sort the wheat from the chaff, not easy.
As a middle of the road political thinker, without extreme views, i take much of what i read with a huge pinch of salt.
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No, its not. I am simply pointing out that social media is particularly vulnerable to groups or parties trying to push an agenda - but not making it clear that they are behind that push. We all know the agendas of different newspapers. Nowhere on the facebook groups about ULEZ was it explained that these were groups set up and managed by the tory party. So this use of social media is dishonest. Thatâs what Iâm highlighting.
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I donât think the host of a Facebook group can easily control the content users post. Facebook has bots that pick up on various trigger words, but it seems that many are able to get around this because the tech is flawed. For example they recently got into trouble when the official Auschwitz Museum Facebook page had a post flagged/removed by bots for being extremist. On the other hand, Iâve seen posts which should be flagged but arenât.
Facebook Says Sorry Its AI Flagged Auschwitz Museum Posts as Offensive
Noor Al-Sibai
19 April 2024·2-min read
Too Late Now
Earlier this month, Facebookâs algorithm flagged 21 posts from the Auschwitz Museum as going against its community standards â and now its parent company Meta is eating crow.
In a Facebook post the Poland-based memorial said that after Metaâs content moderation algorithm moved some of its posts down in the feed over strange claims of violating community standards, the company has apologized, though not directly, for the error.
âWe mistakenly sent notices to the Auschwitz Museum that several pieces of content the museum posted had been demoted,â a Meta spokesperson told The Telegraph âIn fact, that content does not violate our policies and was never actually demoted. We offer our sincere apologies for the error.â
In an April 12 post the museum announced the erroneous flags and charged the social network with âalgorithmic erasure of history.â
âThe posts, which serve as tributes to individual victims of Auschwitz, have been unjustly targeted by this platformâs content moderation system and âmoved lower in the Feedâ, citing absurd reasons such as âAdult Nudity and Sexual Activity,â âBullying and Harassment,â âHate Speech,â and âViolence Incitement,ââ the post reads.
Indeed, as screenshots show, none of the posts in question had any such content, instead showing portraits of Auschwitz victims and short descriptions of their lives and identities prior to their murders at the hands of Nazis.
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My opinions are totally different from a few years ago, loathe the change but I am now detached from belief and trust, dispassionate.
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Exactly my thoughts too Anise.
Itâs become so difficult to distinguish what is true and what is fake in the media I have distanced myself from all news outlets and just focus on local issues. Perhaps itâs because as I get older I find the world is too big for me to worry about, and things will change despite my protestationsâŠ
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[quote=âAnnieS, post:7, topic:103713â]
I donât think the host of a Facebook group can easily control the content users post.[/quote]
In actual fact that is up to the host / administrator of the group. If the admin wants to curtail discussion in a post or block/remove a post or block a group member that is 100% within their powers as an admin. Set up a group and see for yourself.
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Iâm curiousâŠ
I have been on FB since about 2005âŠ
I have never, ever had a ânews feedâ, or seen any such thingâŠ
Of course, I donât go to/ use my âpageâ (whatever that is), and my security settings and preferences are locked down tightâŠ
I join groups that are about things I have an interest in, and these groups are âprivateâ, you have to ask to joinâŠ
I just see the âfeedsâ of the groups I am in, none of which are related to politics or pop cultureâŠsoâŠmaybe that is whyâŠ
It depends on the host as to how much time effort they can devote to reading every single post. Bots should really be picking up these days, but as I mentioned bots have flawed tech which relies on how intuitive their programming is.
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You are of course right - its down to the admin / moderator and the level of control and amount of effort they are prepared to make. The issue with these anti-ULEZ groups, set up by tory party workers, was that the posts fast moved into racist and Islamophobic comments. You can see the connection with Sadiq Khan as the mayor who implemented the ULEZ policy. (As opposed to the fat, white, blond, lying mayor who instigated ULEZ.) Responsible moderation would have removed such offensive posts. Nasty tory workers who ran these groups seem to be happy with such racist posts.
Bots, algorithms and tech have nothing to do with this tory party behaviour.
For any type of reliable news / information one must consult numerous different sources, on both sides of the isle, for each is bias, then hopefully one may determine the actual facts, " There are three sides to every story: yours, theirs, and the truth somewhere in the middle."-- â Sherrilyn Kenyon, [Styxx]
Remember though, one key thing, keep your mind open, else you fall into the age old trap, manipulation by an author who is just saying what they think you want to hear.
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Excellent response!
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One of the reasons I stopped using Facebook is that the âSocial Mediaâ aspect of it seems to have become secondary to the âpolitical mediaâ and the âcommercial advertsâ which are pushed into your Newsfeed without your permission.
I used to enjoy using Facebook to keep in touch with my siblings/ kids /nephews / nieces/ grandkids / great nieces and nephews and a couple of friends.
Then the politicians, media and commercial companies muscled in and they have now taken over the Newsfeed - they spoiled Facebook as a Friendship site and changed the purpose of it - most of my family and friends have ditched Facebook now and so have I.
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Bots do basically what they are programed to do, unlike the manufacturing robots used in factories, or the âbattle botsâ built by robotics hobbyists, a bot is really just a few lines of code with a database.
Anything that stimulates thought, effects your perspective, can be a "good "thing, for nothing in life is iron clad, everything has itâs âgreyâ areas.
why would we want to put a line of code in charge of some of the most important functions in our society?
Guess you will have to ask the Bot producers, but that is what a bot is, a few lines of code with a database.