How Facebook Radicalizes Users

[applegrove]

How Facebook Radicalizes Users

October 23, 2021 at 9:10 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 36 Comments

https://politicalwire.com/2021/10/23/how-facebook-radicalizes-users/

"SNIP......
[link:https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/facebook-knew-radicalized-users-rcna3581|
NBC News]: “In summer 2019, a new Facebook user named Carol Smith signed up for the platform, describing herself as a politically conservative mother from Wilmington, North Carolina. Smith’s account indicated an interest in politics, parenting and Christianity and followed a few of her favorite brands, including Fox News and then-President Donald Trump.”

“Though Smith had never expressed interest in conspiracy theories, in just two days Facebook was recommending she join groups dedicated to QAnon, a sprawling and baseless conspiracy theory and movement that claimed Trump was secretly saving the world from a cabal of pedophiles and Satanists.”

“Smith didn’t follow the recommended QAnon groups, but whatever algorithm Facebook was using to determine how she should engage with the platform pushed ahead just the same. Within one week, Smith’s feed was full of groups and pages that had violated Facebook’s own rules, including those against hate speech and disinformation.”

......SNIP"

[dalton99a]

1. "We are printing money in the basement and we are fine"

In the affidavit, copies of which were provided to The Verge, the whistleblower alleges, among other things, that a former Facebook communications official dismissed concerns about interference by Russia in the 2016 presidential election, assisted unwittingly by Facebook. Tucker Bounds said, according to the affidavit, that the situation would be “a flash in the pan. Some legislators will get pissy. And then in a few weeks they will move on to something else. Meanwhile we are printing money in the basement and we are fine.”

https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/22/22741024/facebook-new-whistleblower-allegations-sec