If you thought social media was a problem in the 2016 election, just wait, 2020 could be worse. In the last three years, it appears the major platforms have done little to correct their problems, or the problems are too big to fix. Witness this from Axios:
- This week, we reached a peak fake, with Facebook saying it had deleted 2.2 billion fake accounts in three months … a fake video of Speaker Pelosi going viral … and Trump going on a fresh “fake news” tear.
- A Pew survey last year found that two-thirds of tweeted links to popular websites came from non-human users (bots or other automated accounts), per Axios’ Neal Rothschild.
“Why it matters: This is just a small taste of our unfiltered future. It’s only going to get easier to generate fake audio, fake videos and even fake people — and to spread them instantly and virally. “
The now-infamous Nancy Pelosi video slowed down to make her appear “drunk” is example A.
For its part, Facebook says A) it’s not in the news business and B) the video will remain on the site because it does not violate Facebook’s rules. One of those rules stipulates that whatever is posted doesn’t have to be true. From Politico:
“The social network said it will, however, greatly reduce distribution of the video among Facebook users’ News Feeds and add context from two third-party fact checkers who deemed it false after Facebook asked them to review it. One of the two fact checkers, Politifact, gave the video its “Pants on Fire” appellation, reserved for the most egregious falsehoods making “ridiculous claim[s].
Facebook added this pop up to anyone who clicks on the video.
While the Pelosi video remains on Facebook, YouTube, a subsidiary of Google, said the video has been removed from its site, saying the Pelosi clip. violated company policy. The video remains on Twitter.