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Essay: Facebook Encourages Misinformation

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Disinformation is an important societal issue affecting Facebook. As a social media platform, Facebook creates its own algorithm for displaying information that individual users want to see. However, Facebook does not enforce much regulation on the content it displays to its users. As a result, people who use the platform may become victims of the false information that come from others with malicious intent. These victims may be motivated to act a certain way after being misled. Disinformation is destructive to democracy, because it allows outside forces to influence the actions of society, and in turn, the government.

Environment For Disinformation

Facebook creates an environment that makes it easy for disinformation to spread. As humans, “we place ourselves in his [another human in pain] situation, we conceive ourselves enduring all the same torments, we enter as it were into his body, and become in some measure the same person with him, and thence form some idea of his sensations, and even feel something which, though weaker in degree, is not altogether unlike them” (Friedman). Humans have an innate ability to feel the pain and emotions of others they see, by imagining themselves in the same situation. On social media, a human’s inherent empathy is manipulated. A study conducted by Facebook data scientists concluded that “emotion is contagious on social media” (Osnos). In other words, what people see on their newsfeed can affect the way they feel about and act in certain situations. By creating an environment where emotions can be manipulated and spread by a single post someone shares, Facebook makes it easy for disinformation to spread. One piece of false information that triggers a reaction can spread quickly and evoke the same reaction, because of the combined effect of human empathy and contagiousness of emotion on social media.

Profits from Disinformation

In addition to emotions, Facebook makes it easy for misinformation to spread due to its business model and algorithm. Facebook uses the data it collects from users/ consumers in order to help advertisers target specific consumers that would be most receptive to its products (Osnos). However, people who understand how the algorithm and targeting of consumers works are able to spread disinformation in an effective way. In fact, “propagandists used the site [Facebook] to spread misinformation…some of the culprits were profiteers who gamed Facebook’s automated system with toxic political clickbait known as “Fake News”…Fake-news sources also paid Facebook to “microtarget” ads at users who had proved susceptible in the past” (Osnos). Here, people who understand how Facebook utilized user data to “microtarget” advertisements are effective in profiting from spreading false political information.

Russia Spreads Disinformation

Countries intent on sowing political and social discord in the United States are able to use Facebook as way to spread disinformation. For example, Russia had trolls write fake news and post it to social media. The purpose of the news included, “undermining faith in its [America’s] electoral system by encouraging or even establishing groups that would sow domestic discord… tactics included applauding Donald Trump’s candidacy while trying to undermine Hillary Clinton’s” (Macfarquhar). By using social media such as Facebook to spread disinformation, Russia is able to cause greater division in American society by reaching more users due to the contagiousness of emotions on Facebook. The division Russia causes through disinformation poses a threat to the United States, because it makes the latter more vulnerable to attacks by other countries.

Media Is Distrusted

The disinformation on Facebook leads to users not trusting news media. In 2016, “sixty-two percent of Americans say they get their news from social media sites like Facebook” (Jacoby). Despite the large percentage of people who get news from social media, Facebook did not regulate the information on its feed. Former Assistant Secretary of State Michael Posner says that Facebook is not a plumber or news distributor (Plenary 3, 2/11/19). In other words, Facebook does not have a responsibility to edit news articles or control what is being spread on its site, because its purpose is not to report or distribute news. As a result of the lack of regulation, disinformation is spread on Facebook, and Americans have less trust in the validity of news media. American distrust in news media eventually spreads to those outside of Facebook. News reporters and media are affected by disinformation, because less people trust and engage with their articles, causing them to lose money and credibility.

Individuals in Power

Disinformation on Facebook leads to the distrust of news media. Individuals in politics are able to utilize this distrust into furthering their own causes. When Donald Trump accuses news media of reporting “fake news,” because it criticizes him, he is taking advantage of the public’s lack of trust in media in order to take away the legitimacy the media has in criticizing him. He is, “‘succeeding just through the force of his daily verbal assaults in shaking trust in the press and in other institutions that are crucial to our democracy’” (“The True Damage”). By further delegitimizing media, Donald Trump and other political individuals are able to make themselves immune to criticism. Furthermore, by calling news that criticizes him “fake news,” Trump implies that the only news that should be reported is positive news about him. This threatens the first amendment, because society no longer has the Freedom to Press. Critical news is “fake news” that should not be reported, causing only “complimentary” news to be reported or trusted.

Disinformation Threatens Democracy

Through Facebook, Russia, individuals in politics, consumers, the public, and news media are all affected by disinformation. One common effect that disinformation causes through these stakeholders is a threat to democracy. When Russian troll bots and other “fake news” distributors spread political disinformation on Facebook, they cause people in society to act in political ways that may not be in their best interests. In addition, when disinformation leads to a lack of trust in news media that is then exacerbated by individuals in power, people in society lose the ability to make informed choices. Furthermore, the political actions of society affect the way government functions. Thus, disinformation threatens the way democracy functions, because it makes it easy for malicious forces to influence an individual actions.

Social Contract

Although Facebook is compliant in the spread of disinformation, individuals in society are also expected to be able to anticipate how vulnerable they are when using social media. In The Social Contract, Jean Jacques Rosseau says,

“each man, in giving himself to all, gives himself to nobody; and as there is no associate over whom he does not acquire the same right as he yields others over himself, he gains an equivalent for everything he loses, and an increase of force for the preservation of what he has.”

In other words, for every benefit or convenience individual gains in society, he gives up something he has. When people use Facebook, they are able to enjoy the convenience of being informed and reading many different sources of news articles on one platform. However, according to the social contract, as a result of this convenience, users give up some protection they have from disinformation. They make themselves more vulnerable to false information, because Facebook makes it easy to obtain information, but not necessarily true information. Furthermore, society chooses to use Facebook to connect, thus it sacrifices some of its rights to free press and political unity.

Facebook’s Intended Purpose/ Regulation

Finally, it is the intended purpose of Facebook, that makes it difficult for disinformation to be controlled on its platform. Mark Zuckerberg, “asserted that Facebook is a tech company, not a media company” (Pickard). In other words, Zuckerberg denies responsibility that Facebook has towards regulating news on its platform, because it is not a media company. However, given the amount of news and people who get their news from its platform, people believe that Facebook needs to regulate the articles on its platform. Conversely, there are also people who believe that, “Democratic societies must individually and collectively decide on Facebook’s responsibilities and how they should be enforced. Self-regulation isn’t sufficient.” (Pickard). The lack of responsibility Facebook has taken so far makes it difficult for people to believe in its self-regulation. However, government regulation of disinformation on Facebook may indicate a threat to the freedom of speech. People will no longer have the freedom to express everything they want to. Thus, regulating disinformation would also threaten democracy.

Disinformation on Facebook is an issue that threatens democracy. As a social media platform, Facebook has not regulated the inflow of disinformation. It has actually made it easier for disinformation to be spread on its site. News media, other countries, the public, and individuals in power are all affected and affecting the spread of disinformation. Despite being recognized as a serious issue, disinformation has not been well regulated, because it may pose a threat to the freedoms an individual has in democracy. As a result, disinformation remains a persistent issue in today’s society.

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