Facebook Wants to Resume Spreading Pandemic Mis/Disinformation

 


Facebook's parent company Meta is considering easing up on the rules it has banning the distribution of misinformation and disinformation about the pandemic. Because we need more misinformation and disinformation about the pandemic, I guess.

In a blog post Meta's President of Global Affairs Nick Clegg says:

Meta remains committed to combating COVID-19 misinformation and providing people with reliable information. As the pandemic has evolved, the time is right for us to seek input from the Oversight Board about our measures to address COVID-19 misinformation, including whether those introduced in the early days of an extraordinary global crisis remains the right approach for the months and years ahead. 

Rather than banning transmission of false information outright, they're thinking about "labeling or demoting it either directly or through our third-party fact-checking program."

So let me get this straight. Meta remains "committed to fighting" misinformation. The way they plan to honor that commitment is to stop banning false information altogether, which they are doing now, and start distributing it again (with warnings).  

Clegg goes on to explain the origin of their policy banning COVID misinformation:

Meta only removed misinformation when local partners with relevant expertise told us a particular piece of content (like a specific post on Facebook) could contribute to a risk of imminent physical harm.

 But now

The pandemic itself has also evolved. In many countries, where vaccination rates are relatively high, life is increasingly returning to normal. But this isn’t the case everywhere and the course of the pandemic will continue to vary significantly around the globe — especially in countries with low vaccination rates and less developed healthcare systems.

Yeah, some countries now have decent vaccination rates (others—including their home country—not so much). As we have learned, vaccinations provide perfect protection against infection waves and development of new variants. There's no more risk of immanent harm because only about 2500 people worldwide are dying of it every single day.

Now its clearly time that we tip the scales back toward freedumb and accept more risk of imminent physical harm. And let's justify it with Orwellian language about how we're fighting something by not fighting it anymore.

Like all of Facebook's ideas, this is a terrible one. I'm with Chamath Palihapitiya who says social media is ruining society. He should to know. He's former Vice President for User Growth at Facebook.

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