Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Facebook Removes Hundreds of Accounts Spamming Political Info (theverge.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the marked-as-spam dept.

Facebook is purging hundreds of accounts and pages in the U.S., many of which spread political misinformation, for breaking the company's terms against "inauthentic" content and spam. The Verge reports: The company said in a blog post that 559 pages and 251 accounts would be removed. While the accounts used "sensational political content," Facebook did not say that was the reason for the purge. Instead, the accounts and pages will be taken down after they had "consistently broken" the company's rules against gaming its platform. Facebook noted that many used strategies like posting on fake or multiple accounts to generate traffic, or to inflate their popularity. Still, Facebook noted the proximity to the U.S. midterm elections, and said that networks like the ones it removed today are "increasingly" promoting political content that is "often indistinguishable from legitimate political debate." The company said this was the reason it has turned to "behavior" instead of "content" when searching for bad actors.

7 of 171 comments (clear)

  1. Good luck with the jackboots Zuck by SuperKendall · · Score: 2, Insightful

    History has shown the more you racist liberal monsters suppress the people, the more they will rebel against you. Trying to suppress conservative voices just makes then vote in greater numbers...

    I saw that as a dispassionate Libertarian who does not have a dog in that hunt, I just enjoy observing tactical mistakes both sides make.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:Good luck with the jackboots Zuck by Zontar+The+Mindless · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You don't even understand what "leftist" means; you've assigned your own (highly subjective and variable) definition to it and expect the rest of us to play along. Fuck that noise.

      --
      Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
    2. Re:Good luck with the jackboots Zuck by XxtraLarGe · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Democrats fail to understand right-wing anger. They think the Brett Kavanaugh hearings helped them, but polls are showing the opposite: it is the right that is riled up and angry, because ... umm ... their guy won again.

      No, they're riled up because of the underhanded way the Democrats--especially Dianne Feinstein--handled the entire debacle. There was ample time to investigate the claims during the confirmation hearings, but they decided to wait until the very end to bring it up after the hearings were finished and right before the vote. I don't buy that she wanted to remain anonymous because she had contacted the Washington Post at the same time she contacted her congresswoman. If her claim had been considered credible, it would have been brought up during the hearings, but they decided to hold onto it thinking they would sink the nomination and rile up their base. They tried to be sneaky, and now it looks like it backfired.

      --
      Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
  2. Re:So freedom of speech by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 4, Insightful

    So freedom of speech is now "sensational political content".

    Not in the least. If you look at the tabloid-esque content that was being pushed through multiple accounts, you will see it was in fact maximally sensational.

    Here's a more complete article that explains the type of content that was removed.

    No freedom after speech as the account is removed.

    You are one of these many misguided people that seems to think you can say anything you want and people have to just put up and listen to you. However, the truth is you are simply not being jailed for saying things. A site owner has zero obligation to keep your content on their site, especially when it just points to your own website which you make money off from.

    Remember, the freedom of speech means you stay out of jail but does nothing to force people to listen to you.

    --
    Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
  3. Re:'Spamming' by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    democrats aren't generally dumb enough to fall for FB spambot trolls, which is why you don't really see any.

    Actually, the reason Democrats don't troll is that, thanks to Poe's Law, they don't need to. Actual authentic right-wing posts already go far beyond any trolling or parody that the Democrats could come up with.

    Have you seen what passes for news on Donald Trump? Did you watch the disconnect between the news and the actual Kavanaugh hearings?

    The left just lost the midterms with their radicalism and denial of reality. At least one registered democrat can admit to it. The foot has been shot straight through and now our dinghy in a sea of red is sinking.

  4. often indistinguishable... by linatux · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "often indistinguishable from legitimate political debate." - ie Legitimate political debate, but not what they agree with?

  5. Re:So freedom of speech by astrofurter · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Here's a more complete article that explains the type of content that was removed.

    Even the WaPo semi-official propaganda story you linked makes it obvious that Facebook censored legitimate American political activists.

    Why do you hate freedom of speech? Do you suppose that your faction will always be in power?