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Facebook 'Likes' Are a Powerful Tool For Authoritarian Rulers, Court Petition Says (qz.com)
A Cambodian opposition leader has filed a petition in a California court against Facebook, demanding the company disclose its transactions with his country's authoritarian prime minister, whom he accuses of falsely inflating his popularity through purchased "likes" and spreading fake news. From a report: The petition, filed Feb. 8, brings the ongoing debate over Facebook's power to undermine democracies into a legal setting. The petitioner, Sam Rainsy, says that Hun Sen, the prime minister, "has used the network to threaten violence against political opponents and dissidents, disseminate false information, and manipulate his (and the regime's) supposed popularity, thus seeking to foster an illusion of popular legitimacy." Rainsy alleges that Hun had used "click farms" to artificially boost his popularity, effectively buying "likes." The petition says that Hun had achieved astonishing Facebook fame in a very short time, raising questions about whether this popularity was legitimate.
"When Russians buy ads it's "meddling", but when DNC and RNC do it, it's just campaigning."
Congratulations, you understood the law perfectly!
Facebook 'Likes' Are a Powerful Tool For Authoritarian Rulers
...Facebook, (...) whom he accuses of falsely inflating his popularity through purchased "likes" and spreading fake news.
Well, Facebook is designed to be just that: a paid propaganda conduit enabling corporate customers (you know, the ones who actually pay Facebook) to get their kool-aid into the heads of billions of unwitting consumers. What else would motivate them to collectively pour billions of dollars into a service like Facebook? Follow us on Facebook, little people! Hammer your brain with our name, make it look like we’re the most popular and let us see everything about you, all in a single click!
And why think that politicians wouldn’t do the exact same thing when they regularly employ the same marketing agencies and the same mass propaganda techniques as commercial entities?