On: Facebook exec blames society for COVID misinformat...

[cgriswald]

People want inflammatory content like a moth wants a flame. Facebook amplifying a signal from the lunatic fringe preys upon the need of non-lunatics (or different-thinking lunatics) to argue against ideas they consider dangerous or just wrong. As a side-effect, it makes the ideas appear more mainstream, which has the effect of making the ideas more popular. This further increases the compulsion of non-lunatics to address the ideas.

I'm not sure if that qualifies as being what people 'want' or not, but it seems like it's profitable.

[s1artibartfast → cgriswald]

>I'm not sure if that qualifies as being what people 'want' or not, but it seems like it's profitable.

People want it like an alcoholic wants a drink. Facebook is the corner store that sells to the public.

I think we agree on the mechanism. but the question is what to do about it.

People generally say, silence people I don't like, and blind others from seeing what I don't agree with.

The problem is that this is not a workable standard, because everyone has a different opinion on what should be censored.