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Facebook Says It Can't Guarantee Social Media is Good For Democracy (reuters.com)

Facebook said on Monday that it could offer no assurance that social media was on balance good for democracy, but noted that it was trying what it could to stop alleged meddling in elections by Russia or anyone else. From a report: The sharing of false or misleading headlines on social media has become a global issue, after accusations that Russia tried to influence votes in the United States, Britain and France. Moscow denies the allegations.

Facebook, the largest social network with more than 2 billion users, addressed social media's role in democracy in blog posts from a Harvard University professor, Cass Sunstein, and from an employee working on the subject. "I wish I could guarantee that the positives are destined to outweigh the negatives, but I can't," Samidh Chakrabarti, a Facebook product manager, wrote in his post. Facebook, he added, has a "moral duty to understand how these technologies are being used and what can be done to make communities like Facebook as representative, civil and trustworthy as possible."

3 of 219 comments (clear)

  1. Facebook hurts Democracy by nospam007 · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    Is the translation of the title.

    Aiding and abetting the enemy is treason.
    How cute that they admit that they just _have_ to do it, because otherwise, they don't make any money.

  2. Translation: We can't guarantee Hillary will win by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    We tried our best to make sure won, but she didn't so therefore Democracy itself is broken!

  3. Re:That's stupid. by cayenne8 · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    Oh, I am sure you don't want a basic intelligence test to vote

    Actually, ideally...I wish we could. Or at least restrict voting to those who pay actual taxes, so as to make sure that everyone that votes has some "skin in the game".

    But doing so, could really lead to a slippery slope.

    I'd be happy just making sure people are of some level of intelligence to be on social media, or even the greater internet.

    Not meaning to sound elitist, but if you've ever spent ANY amount of time working directly with the general public, you quickly come to realize that 95% of them are fucked in the head, and you wonder if they are actually worth all the oxygen they are processing.

    But I digress.

    --
    Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........