Is Facebook Media?

Facebook Temporarily Blocks Black Lives Matter Activist After He Posts Racist Email

This s the title of and older story that I am bringing back which happened late last year and got little attention.  While watching the news feed on my own facebook,  An old friend went suddenly Sean Hannity on me and once started it just all linked up and high profiled. I came to see how easily manipulated the feed could be.  I saw how easily we could be persuaded to take up the telephone and call to support obsolete neoliberal talking point by the constant barage of Democratic Party machine group think, and even old dead free market crap about liberty.  All of this is spiced with a strong dose of classic Libertarian bullshit. We are called a progressive community in the North Bay but in truth there is a staunch majority of liberal Democratic Party loyalists that are still pissed off about Hillary and yearn to go back to the days of Obama.
Getting back to Facebook I will first set the stage by saying that across this country most people still get their news from TV.  This is well documented.  However in our circles and among the young and progressive activists and our friends Facebook principally and social media in general is the window into the world of information and news. KQED and KPFA distant third and umtheenth.  Does this make Facebook a media company, do they edit, even censor or do they gently push ideas?  Turns out the answer is no, sort of yes and no and definitely yes,but the platform is undeniably fertile ground for exploitation for those with an agenda.  Most of the users are clearly net consumers of this mediated information. So this would seem to support  the answer.  Yes they are media and therefore this debate is also as about issues of privatization of the utility of communications systems and influence as it is about censorship. It is a proverbial can of worms.  Telephones and postal mail use to be regulated to prevent thought control.  TV and news outlets use to be required to provide equal time for opposing views, but with Facebook? All bets are off and I am more than a little worried.

This is from the story:

Facebook faced international scorn last week when it censored a Norwegian writer’s post featuring the historic Vietnam war photo of nine-year-old Kim Phuc running naked from a napalm attack. Journalists criticized the decision, saying the Pulitzer-winning image had clear news value, and Norway’s largest newspaper published a front-page letter to CEO Mark Zuckerberg, urging him to live up to his role as “the world’s most powerful editor”.

After the intense backlash, Facebook reinstated the photo, but media ethicists said the spat exposed fundamental flaws and unresolved challenges in the way the company controls the news. While Zuckerberg continues to insist that his corporation is a “platform” and “tech company” – and not a media site or publisher – the reality is that Facebook has become a primary news source for many users and a vital tool for reporters.

Shaun King – a senior justice writer for the New York Daily News, who frequently writes viral stories about police brutality – posted on his Facebook page a screenshot of an email that twice called him the N-word, saying “FUCK YOU N*****!” The technology corporation said it was blocking him from posting for 24 hours, saying he had violated its “community standards”. 

I really mean can of worms, I know you all love your Facebook and it is sometime incredibly sweet and warm and almost human,  but beware.  This is part of your  mental environment (count your hours.) The Internet is the information environment upon with you form opinions and make decisions.  It is so big it is only a quasi business.  If Facebook were a religion it would be the second largest on the planet and as such it is wide open to those who would persuade you and money is no object, this is big.

As the discussion about fake news, terrorism, hate speak, social media trolling software deployed by governments, law enforcement agencies and NSA back doors proceed, trust me this will only become worse.  As authoritarian governments work to stop the resistance and yet the resistance itself deploys social media aggressively as a powerful organizing tool the shit will hit the fan.  Just a head up.

Facebook Temporarily Blocks Black Lives Matter Activist After He Posts Racist Email: