
Don’t Tilt Scales Against Trump, Facebook Executive Warns - longdefeat
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/07/technology/facebook-trump-2020.html
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DyslexicAtheist
sounds like BigTobacco in the 70ies/80ies:

 _> Mr. Bosworth also waded into the debate over the health effects of social
media, rejecting what he called “wildly offensive” comparisons of Facebook to
addictive substances like nicotine. He instead compared Facebook to sugar, and
said users were responsible for moderating their own intake.

“If I want to eat sugar and die an early death that is a valid position,” Mr.
Bosworth wrote. “My grandfather took such a stance towards bacon and I admired
him for it. And social media is likely much less fatal than bacon.”_

f!ck them!

~~~
boublepop
Seems reasonable enough to me. There haven’t been any scientific studies
linking social media usage to serious health effects similar to tobacco usage
or obesity. And while there definitely are clear causal links between
excessive sugar intake and type 2 diabetes, that still hasn’t resulted in bans
of sugar products.

Just because people don’t like social media doesn’t mean we should abandon all
logic in legislation against it, or carry out outrageous comparisons that
sound like clickbait titles. “Facebooks is as harmful as smoking or
overeating!” Is just not true. What is true is that certain people don’t like
Facebook and would love for such a title to be true because it aligns with
their bias, and therefore they feel we should all just accept it as truth
without the evidence.

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downerending
Sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. Personally I'd prefer all
politicians' opinions uncensored, so that I can read them and decide for
myself.

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cyorir
The problem Bosworth does not seem to have addressed is that the scales are
currently tilted in favor of political misinformation. Facebook has chosen to
not apply the same rules to politicians as it does to other users. Why doesn't
Bosworth see a moral imperative to hold politicians to the same standard he
holds everyone else?

"Dozens of Facebook employees pushed back on Mr. Bosworth’s conclusions,
arguing in the comments section below his post that politicians should be held
to the same standard as other Facebook users. They debated whether Facebook
should ban or remove posts by politicians, including Mr. Trump, that included
hate speech or forms of misinformation."

This is heartening, at least. I hope these employees prevail.

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Lammy
They won’t. Bosworth does what’s best for Bosworth, and he owns substantially
more $FB than any of those people arguing against him.

~~~
cyorir
That's why I said, "I hope", not "I expect".

