>it seems like most of the critiques of social media coming from big / old media are just symptoms of having their revenue bled away
I feel that so many people blindly hate Facebook that they overlook this point. The loudest critics of social media are the old vanguards of news who are upset that the new kid on the block took their ad money.
Maybe I'm behind on the times but I don't think liberals are kept up at night by the idea of someone putting on facebook that the clintons are a race of green skinned aliens.
In actual fact I think, as per usual, the situation is more complicated than that. Some of the censoring may be for fabrications, but the people who decide what is and isn't a fabrication are biased, and therefore leads to opinions at very least being caught up in the mix
But in practice it's taking out things that appear to be true or at least a viable theory. For instance, the reporting on Hunter Biden's laptop, and the lab leak theory.
So be concerned about people calling Clinton a Gila Monster if that's your most pressing concern. But by censoring it, you will also miss out on contrarian reporting that's actually true.
Everything in society is between "progressive" and "conservative" values. To say that "conservative opinions" are simply "misinformation", is very misinformed in itself.
Read the whole comment I replied to. There is no one trying to just censor conservative opinions, they are trying to censor conservative misinformation. I wasn’t painting all conservative opinions as misinformation, I’m was saying the things people want censored is the misinformation, not just opinions.
> There is no one trying to just censor conservative opinions
Hm? There are lots and lots of people and companies trying to censor conservative opinions.
I don't know if you've managed to read/consume the whole news spectrum over the last years, but I recommend that you pay regular attention to both progressive/liberal AND conservative outlets. Then you would know better than to say something like this.
I’m talking about Facebook. I’m talking about the conservatives that complain that FB is censoring their posts. Posts that are largely, if not completely, mis/disinformation about a myriad of topics.
Of course there exists people who want the censor conservative voices, full stop. I’m aware those people exist, but that’s clearly not who I’m talking about in this context and I think you know that.
Don't expect others to piece together your puzzles, maybe? If you're talking about something specific, actually say that. We are not telepathic, so it would make life much easier for all of us. Thaaaank you.
> Read the whole comment I replied to. There is no one trying to just censor conservative opinions, they are trying to censor conservative misinformation.
Exactly. There's there a popular bit of spin that tries defend mis/disinformation by confusing it with political opinion.
One of the signs of American decline and weakness is how several bits of blatant mis/disinformation have lodged themselves in the conservative discourse, and the conservatives who have problem with that are too weak to do anything about it.
I'm not saying that couldn't also be true of liberals, but that doesn't and shouldn't mean conservatives are off the hook for their own problems.
Facebook has had an outsize impact on society, they have a lot of power. I believe they (and any other agent that has that effect on society) are pretty much fair game for the press to cover; that’s literally their job.
I feel that so many people blindly hate Facebook that they overlook this point. The loudest critics of social media are the old vanguards of news who are upset that the new kid on the block took their ad money.