Facebook to block news sharing in Australia if new law is passed

Let’s get every country to do this so we can significantly reduce the amount of misinformation on Facebook … and help publishers survive.

It is often said how social media has become the new way news spreads, sometimes even more quickly, but few actually consider the money involved there. From clicks to page views to ads, companies like Facebook and Google have perhaps taken the lion’s share of advertising profits, even when the content surfaced on their platforms come from other sources like news outlets.

Read the full article at www.slashgear.com.

Facebook algorithm found to ‘actively promote’ Holocaust denial

08/30/20 by Leon N Leave a comment

I think the headline should read, “Facebook algorithm found to actively promote anything that generates revenue regardless of how vile, fake, racist, homophobic, sexist, transphobic, etc.”

Last Wednesday Facebook announced it was banning conspiracy theories about Jewish people ‘controlling the world’.

Read the full article at www.theguardian.com.

Facebook Adds A.I. Labs in Seattle and Pittsburgh, Pressuring Local Universities

05/05/18 by Leon N Leave a comment

I know what the tech companies are doing is legal, but it’s still very concerning to me. It seems like the model of Stanford and the early days of Silicon Valley companies is gone for good.

Facebook is opening new A.I. labs in Seattle and Pittsburgh, after hiring three A.I. and robotics professors from the University of Washington and Carnegie Mellon University. The company hopes these seasoned researchers will help recruit and train other A.I. experts in the two cities, Mike Schroepfer, Facebook’s chief technology officer, said in an interview.

As it builds these labs, Facebook is adding to pressure on universities and nonprofit A.I. research operations, which are already struggling to retain professors and other employees.

Read the full article at www.nytimes.com.

How Russian Facebook Ads Divided and Targeted US Voters Before the 2016 Election

04/17/18 by Leon N Leave a comment

While this is truly depressing, it’s even worse knowing that so many people believe things based on unsubstantiated claims in an ad or an article headline. (Note: this behavior is not unique to either the right or the left – or the center, for that matter.)

When Young Mie Kim began studying political ads on Facebook in August of 2016—while Hillary Clinton was still leading the polls— few people had ever heard of the Russian propaganda group, Internet Research Agency.

Read the full article at www.wired.com.

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