Facebook is increasingly becoming everyone's choice for news and other information but low standards and Mark Zuckerberg's stance had let in many websites that lack factual basis on certain reports that use images to attract attention and relay messages. Zuckerberg blames both US political factions for the spread of propaganda -- an indication that it may not be able to fix hoax news in everyone's feeds.
According to Slate.com, Facebook has a "more permissive stance" towards the US President-Elect Donald Trump and other politicians and public figures. A Facebook Spokesperson said, "When we review reports of content that may violate our policies, we take context into consideration" that may include value of political discourse.
According to Newsweek Europe, Facebook can never fix hoaxes in its network and could potentially harm its social media brand. Newsweek Tech Writer Kevin Massey cited an anonymous Facebook insider mentioning Facebook's lackluster attempts to remove hoax websites from its system could potentially damage the brand. Massey also commented on Facebook becoming a "media site" setting up deals with publishers populating timelines with stories that maximize profit.
The Facebook news feed works by selecting the most relevant and engaging stories. It choose the best content out of several thousand stories spreading in its network each day. It prioritizes stories that each individual users would like, click and share. Because the more engaging the content the more people return to Facebook -- aside from seeing the latest tagged photos and videos of friend and family.
Facebook is clearly an ineffective medium for information. If a user likes, clicks or shares a harassment video, "hate" post or even a racial slur, Facebook's news feed algorithm -- along with Zuckerberg's stance -- would allow it "based on context". This is what allowed many political posts without factual sources and possible scams such as "The Blessing Loom" to surface and spread like wildfire.
Unless Facebook adopts Twitter's social content rules that apply to everyone including politicians and leaders -- rules that ban users who encourage hate messages or disturbing actions -- it still has hope. Brand is not the only thing Facebook has that gets damaged; it also damages the world's mentality.
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