Post by account_disabled on Mar 6, 2024 21:37:42 GMT -6
It's not just fakenews that threaten the internet. The emergence of false political ads within Facebook and other platforms has today begun to put American democracy and other nations around the world at risk; and with them the reputation of the social network.
One would think that, after experiencing the Cambridge Analytica scandal, Zuckerberg would be particularly worried about not being able to confront phenomena like this, which encourage misinformation. However, Facebook employees seem to be more alarmed than the CEO himself about the latent situation.
The Hipertextual portal reports that Chile Mobile Number List more than 250 team members have signed an open letter to their leader to express their concerns and demand action. Will this be the beginning of a new chapter in the platform's social responsibility, or just a media effort that will remain stuck in port?
The company's response to the demands of its collaborators is still pending. However, Zuckerberg has appeared before international courts and, so far, no court has obtained concrete and functional actions by the CEO to control the flow of false information. Could an internal trial have a different result?
More than 250 Facebook employees spoke out against Zuckerberg and other executives, worrying that they are not reacting to the spread of false political ads. They assure that the situation may increase the level of distrust against the company.
On October 23, Mark Zuckerberg , CEO of Facebook , spoke before the United States House of Representatives to defend Libra , the social network's cryptocurrency. However, some congressmen took advantage of the occasion to question the manager about other controversial issues surrounding the platform. One of them was the approval of political advertisements with false messages , a practice that is influencing the election of rulers in that country. Facebook has no plans to verify the veracity of messages in political ads
The company's leader made it clear that its policy does not require analyzing political speech. In addition, he hinted that it is not the company's responsibility for people to see the lies of politicians . Unless the ads include racist messages or incite violence, any politician is free to run false ads without any repercussions. Of course, this was not seen favorably by some of the company's workers.
In an open letter reported by The New York Times , more than 250 Facebook employees attacked Zuckerberg and other company leaders for their lack of opposition to false political ads . According to the text, allowing the dissemination of this advertising could generate massive misinformation among users of the social network. While they agree that Facebook can be a place where anyone can express their voice, they are concerned that the limits of freedom of expression are being exceeded . An excerpt from the writing mentions the following:
We are reaching out to you, the leaders of this company, because we are concerned that we are on track to undo the great strides our product teams have made in integrity over the past two years. We work here because we care, because we know that even our smallest choices impact communities on an astonishing scale. We want to raise our concerns before it is too late. Free speech and paid speech are not the same.
Misinformation affects us all. Our current policies on fact-checking people in political office, or those running for public office, are a threat to what Facebook represents. We strongly oppose the policies as they are. It does not protect voices, but instead allows politicians to use the platform as a weapon aimed at people who believe that content posted by political figures is trustworthy.
In addition, employees have shared the effects that this could cause for the company itself, highlighting that the level of mistrust can increase significantly by not verifying facts. If this continues, as they mention, Facebook can be seen as a company that takes advantage of misinformation campaigns to generate income. On the other hand, it would be “undoing” the work that the integrity team has done in recent years.
Of course, they have not hesitated to share some proposals that could help solve the problem. Firstly, and as the most important point, the workers propose that political advertisements adopt the same regulations as other types of advertising. The “standard” should be the same regardless of its content. Another suggestion is that the visual design of these ads stand out from the rest, since "people have trouble distinguishing political advertising from organic publications."
Additionally, they suggest preventing political ads from being directed to personalized audiences , since this practice encourages the conversation on the topic to be isolated and harms "political scrutiny." Finally, another of its proposals includes offering clearer policies on advertising by politicians and respecting the electoral ban established by the laws of each country. Despite the opinion of its employees, Facebook does not plan to change its position
Facebook is already aware of the letter, and they were quick to speak out through a spokesperson: "Facebook's culture is based on openness, so we appreciate that our employees express their opinions on this important issue." While maintaining their firm non-intervention stance , they promise to continue “exploring additional steps that can increase the transparency of political ads.”
Undoubtedly, the last thing Facebook wants is to create an internal conflict due to its non-existent intervention against false political ads. For now their actions have been insufficient , and criticism is upon them again. However, now the United States government is strongly questioning them, so the outlook could change ahead of the 2020 presidential elections.