- Facebook will let people in the group become experts, and their posts will be enlarged.
- The idea is to designate “knowledgeable experts” who can act as authoritative voices.
- But this move is another way for Facebook to evade responsibility for the content posted on its website.
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Facebook once again recruited others to work for it.
The company said this week that it will let the administrators in its group appoint users as “experts.”
This means the people who run the online community-from housing opportunities to puppy For extremists-will choose people in these groups to become an authoritative voice that others can rely on, part of this initiative is aimed at eliminating misinformation.
So, for example, an administrator of a group dedicated to conspiracy theories or white supremacy can designate someone in the field as an expert, his posts will be amplified, and others will trust him.
The new initiative is reminiscent of the oversight committee set up by Facebook, often referred to as the “Supreme Court.” As the company faces increasingly strict pressures to ease potentially harmful posts, it does not take full responsibility on its own.
Instead, it spent $130 million to appoint a group of outsiders to review Facebook’s decision.
The move backfired in May, When the organization returns a case to Facebook and tells it to do its own work, don’t be “lazy,” And make your own rules.
If the scolding of the supervisory committee is any indication, then Facebook’s new “expert” tool may also produce inefficient results.
Not only that, if the platform authorizes certain users to have online pockets dedicated to the subject of misinformation propagation, it may have a negative impact.
The group was originally designed to curb misinformation
Brent Sturtton/Getty Images
Facebook Pay more attention to the group After the 2016 U.S. presidential election, the company really began to strongly object to the dissemination of misinformation on its platform.
and so CEO Mark Zuckerberg Attempting to shift attention from Facebook’s news feed and its groups to “helping 1 billion people connect with meaningful communities.”
However, there was a problem with this feature, and Facebook has deleted some groups that it believes are at risk of inciting violence.
For example, a “Stop Stealing” group was created in November. 365,000 members joined, and they were convinced that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from former US President Donald Trump. But only two days later, Facebook deleted it because it said the organization was organized Around the “illegalization of the election process,” some members are making “worrisome appeals for violence.”
Before that, in mid-2019, Public Broadcasting Corporation It reported a private group of 9,500 current and former U.S. Border Patrol agents who joked that immigrants would die.
Facebook Say According to its announcement, there are more than 70 million administrators and moderators operating active groups worldwide.
It is not easy to review so much content, but Facebook’s expert tools show that it still has not found a responsible solution for how false facts spread on its website like weeds.
Facebook did not respond to a request for comment.
