There are
serious concerns over a social media giant's plans to debunk spurious
news stories. And many are puzzled about the real agenda at play.
You don’t
need to worship at the altar of George Orwell to see where this is
going. Under tremendous assault from the American establishment media
over the proliferation of what they define as ’fake news’ on the
platform, internet behemoth Facebook has finally caved in and agreed
to regulate content. While, in principle, the concept sounds
relatively noble, the manner in which it's proposed to implement it
merits many questions.
Among them
are the continuing dangers of American domination of the world wide
web and the liberal bias of that country’s popular press. But most
worrying is the uncharted territory we are entering. Because there
has never been a media portal as dominant as Facebook. In the past,
big broadcasters or newsagent chains might have enjoyed outsized
influence, but Mark Zuckerbeg’s firm is an effective monopoly.
Whereas
papers have always been curated by editors, their power was limited
by the sheer number of competitors in every national market. And the
more different they were, the better for society in general. However,
there is only one Facebook, and its power, in this regard, is
extraordinary.
Of course,
another big problem here is that one person’s “fake news” could
be another’s truth. And that’s before we mention how some of the
outlets pressuring Facebook are often guilty of making up stories
themselves.
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