[kictanet] Facebook's real risk

Wed Nov 23 14:17:55 EAT 2016

My two cents
Fake news is less a problem than the fact that Facebook is very very good
at insuring that you stay inside your own bubble.

As the liberals and Democrats look for someone, anyone, to blame for the
election result they don't like they seem to have settled on Facebook.
Anyone who knows how the newsfeed algorithm works knows that it shows you
what it thinks you'll engage most with. I suspect that fake news only
reinforced people's belief but did nothing to change their minds.

Meanwhile I shudder to think what will happen when FB has the power to
decide what is fake news and what isn't. The ability for this to scale
outside the US is dubious to say the least but I suspect what ever solution
is created would be scaled globally. Other thoughts on why this is not a
great thing can be found here:
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/11/the-cure-for-fake-news-is-worse-than-the-disease-214477

Far more nefarious is the filter bubble, it's the same filter bubble that
made so many sure that Hillary was going to win, the same bubble that makes
it easy to stay within your "tribe" and stay unexposed other people's
opinions. That's the real issue here and the way the incentives are set up
makes it very unlikely that FB will do anything to fix it, even if they can.

On 22 November 2016 at 14:20, Mose Karanja via kictanet <
kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:

> Andrew, I agree with you on personal responsibility.
>
> However, my post yesterday was more about the personalization of online
> experiences while isolating contrary opinion. That is very different from
> 'Fake News'.
>
> It is easier for individuals to blame Facebook or Google for issues that
> are practically beyond them. Fake news is one of them. As it relates to
> Fake News, what happens to content hosted outside Facebook? Will we expect
> Facebook or Twitter or whatever platform there is to verify that for us?
> Remember Free Basics? There was so much heat generated from that debate
> with much much less progress on how to get people connected through public
> resources. I hope organizations that invested millions of dollars to fight
> Free Basics can also direct such kind of funding to engage government and
> communities to bring about more connectivity.
>
> -Moses
>
> On 22 Nov 2016, at 14:09, Andrew Alston <Andrew.Alston at liquidtelecom.com>
> wrote:
>
> Hi All,
>
> I’ve been following this thread with some interest and figured I’d add
> some comments to it.
>
> Moses, you pose an interesting hypothesis below, and one I tend to agree
> with – we do tend to group with others that share our common ideas and
> beliefs, and it does tend to lead to a closed minded approach on
> alternative views.  This is certainly a danger that I believe needs to be
> thought about.
>
> At the same time, if I look at the uproar around the fake news, and I look
> at the impact of social media, I also believe that we must not discount the
> concept of personal responsibility.  So often we rely on the platforms we
> use to verify information, to protect us from fake news, to protect us from
> what we see.  But at the end of the day, each of us has a responsibility to
> verify what we read and make informed decisions.  That is the nature of
> personal responsibility, and I hesitate to blame the providers of a
> platform for how we, as users, choose to use it.
>
> In a recent interview with one of the guys who writes a lot of satire and
> so called fake news – he was asked why he did it, and what he felt about
> the fact that some of his articles may have actually helped Donald Trump
> assume the presidency in the states.  He said that personally, he hated
> everything Trump stood for, and he regrets that, but in the past, people
> would have fact checked the stuff he wrote and discounted it, while Trump
> himself would have been spreading it around, and hence, his intention was
> actually to hurt the Trump campaign rather than help it, through writing
> satire.  Unfortunately, people choose to actually believe verbatim what was
> written.  Now – that raises a question – is he responsible for what was
> believed verbatim, or do you hold accountable the people who should have
> actually verified something before spreading it?  I tend to lean towards
> the latter.
>
> One of the advantages of the internet is that there are loads of sources
> of information – fact checking things is easy – we just have to choose to
> do it.  We also have to be very wary of implementing controls and acting
> out of fears that are unsubstantiated and unfounded.  I have seen similar
> in AfriNIC recently, where there is a policy proposal coming before the
> Mauritian meeting that has horrific implications.  The basis behind it is
> that people are scared that someone MIGHT be abusing resources to we should
> implement something to cater for a hypothetical – irrespective of the
> damage that our risk mitigation may do – based on a fear that is
> unsubstantiated.
>
> So guard against that – verify what we read – act from a position of
> knowledge rather than fear – and take personal responsibility rather than
> blame a platform for how we use it.
>
> In the same way you cannot blame a computer if you commit an illegal act
> using it – because the computer is just the tool, it was you who used it in
> that manner.
>
> Just my thoughts
>
> Andrew
>
>
> *From:* kictanet [mailto:kictanet-bounces+andrew.alston=liquidtelecom.
> com at lists.kictanet.or.ke
> <kictanet-bounces+andrew.alston=liquidtelecom.com at lists.kictanet.or.ke>] *On
> Behalf Of *Moses Karanja via kictanet
> *Sent:* 21 November 2016 18:35
> *To:* Andrew Alston <Andrew.Alston at liquidtelecom.com>
> *Cc:* Moses Karanja <mosekaranja at gmail.com>
> *Subject:* Re: [kictanet] Facebook's real risk
>
>
> I think the biggest tragedy we face, not just as Kenyans but as humans, is
> the behavior of teaming with only those we agree with.
>
> This takes two levels.
>
> *Consciously:* Some shares a news item on your timeline about a topic you
> find disgusting. You unfriend or unfollow them.
>
> *Unconsciously:* Social network algorithms study your behavior and show
> you those things they think you 'like'.
>
> The end result is you have a busy social media life but you are only
> interacting with those who look like you.
>
> We end up with very weak social genes thanks to 'digital in-breeding'.
>
> Individuals can work on the first one - a very steep socialization process
> though.
>
> The issue is the second level; can social networks rewrite their
> algorithms to bring diversity to their subscribers at the cost of weakened
> business models that depend on engagement and personalization of online
> experiences.
>
>
>
> This is not a simple problem and even if Facebook fixes the 'Fake News'
> problem, this 'digital in-breeding' will still lurk with us, not forgetting
> that other social media platforms have a responsibility too.
>
>
>
> -Moses
>
> On 21/11/2016 18:14, kictanet-request at lists.kictanet.or.ke wrote:
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Regards,
Sidney

*Twitter:* @princelySid <https://twitter.com/princelySid> | *Website: *
sidneyochieng.co.ke
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