Facebook ’s track record for tackling misinformation on its platform is , well , youmightsaynotexactlygreat . It ’s not just limit to dim or shoddy political memes either — it also include seriously grave health misinformation and say “ cures . ” Realizing the error of its ways and their potential for harm , Facebook has eventually decided to delete this information altogether so it can no longer be shared or seen .
Just kidding ! Facebook says it will leave this information up on its site , instead opting to merely “ minimize ” its reach in News Feed .
Facebook Product Manager Travis Yeh address the company ’s half - assed endeavour to suppress the number in ablog poston Tuesday , writing that “ misleading health message is particularly bad for our residential area . ” Changes to address this misinformation went into effect last month and include demoting sensationalist or misleading content — such as mail about a supposed “ miracle cure”—as well as posts about “ a product or religious service based on a health - relate title . ” These changes mostly seem to employ to Pages . Yeh go on in the post :
Photo: Getty
We forebode that most Pages wo n’t see any significant changes to their dispersion in News Feed as a result of this update …
Posts with stunning wellness call or solicitation using health - related claims will have reduce distribution . page should avoid posts about health that magnify or misguide people and posts that attempt to sell products using wellness - pertain claim . If a Page stops place this content , their post will no longer be affected by this change .
Here ’s the problem with this : Anyone look for entropy on , say , poisoning their children with bleachto “ cure ” autism or whatever other ridiculous and harmful misinformation groups are parroting can , presumably , still navigate to a Page and find that information if they search it out . By leaving misleading health mental object up , Facebook is still allowing that contentedness to reach potentially susceptible witness . This is the same grounds Facebook latterly come under fire for leaving updistorted videosof House Speaker Nancy Pelosi .
https://gizmodo.com/freaky-star-seems-to-dim-randomly-and-astronomers-dont-1836045295
Facebook ’s reply to that fiasco , as with this one , was infuriate . speak with Anderson Cooper for aninterviewabout the incident at the time , Facebook Head of Global Policy Management Monika Bickert said that the company thinks “ it ’s significant for people to make their own informed choice about what to believe , ” pointing to the platform ’s fact - jibe operation as justification for allowing misleading content to remain on its land site .
“ This is part of the way we mete out with misinformation , ” Bickert said . “ We work with internationally certified fact - checking organizations that are independent from Facebook , and we think these are the correct organizations to be make decision about whether something is true or assumed . ”
get ’s set away for a bit that the largest social media platform on the planet appears mostly indifferent to the misleading garbage that festers on its platform , in no little part , because Facebook exists . station the moderateness of its content squarely on the shoulders of its fact - checking mate rather than taking any meaningful action mechanism to address potentially harmful or severe misinformation on its site is only slightly best than doing piece of ass all about the job . Even fact - checkers have asked the company for greatertransparency and metricsto calibre the value of their work and its essence .
This new health misinformation initiative , uh , also does n’t appear to be working so hot . A quick search for Thomas Nelson Page about lose exercising weight fastturned up onewith 48,000 follower whose pinned post push a tea that claims to “ stop hunger craving in their tracks and assist you throw off one pound of FAT every 72 hours ! ” So there ’s that !
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