Facebook free speech is dead it's time we move to non US social networks

[gweb1996]

Facebook free speech is dead it's time we move to non US social networks

“Whether you like Facebook or not, we need to recognize what is at stake and come together to stand for free expression at this critical moment,” he said.

But after being deluged with misinformation about COVID-19, hate, and false claims of election fraud—some of which came directly from then-President Donald Trump—Facebook has all but said: "Nevermind, forget what our CEO said."

Under fire, the company has almost entirely reversed course on its free speech haven by clamping down on hate, increasing penalties for users who repeatedly share misinformation, and linking readers of any post related to COVID-19 to information from government sources.

https://fortune.com/2021/06/04/facebook-free-speech-politicians-policy-newsworthiness-hate-speech-misinformation/

[jackg]

The village idiot was normally the loudest whenever I checked my Facebook feed, that being said you could just unfriend or block them if they were too annoying.

Most popular social media is annoying though as paid content gets boosted the most out of everything and can also lead to misinformation and manipulation of the viewers (which itself can undermine both free speech and democracy).

[NeuroticFish]

There's something people don't understand: you write on their platform. Since it's their platform, they make the rules. In US, you may hear about issues with the freedom of speech. In other countries the "bad" posts are simply removed with no fuss. On their platform, we are just the herd that make them money.

Do you want your posts stay under your control? Keep your computer online 24/7 and self-host a blog or whatever. Then it goes by your rules. Nowadays it should not even be that difficult.
Ah, your posts are not seen by so much people? You have to SEO/advertise it? You have to fight your way against rich platforms? Well, life is not supposed to be easy.

[The Sceptical Chymist]

Under fire, the company has almost entirely reversed course on its free speech haven by clamping down on hate, increasing penalties for users who repeatedly share misinformation, and linking readers of any post related to COVID-19 to information from government sources.

Yeah well, that's what happens to social media sites when they're essentially controlled by their advertisers.  One could have predicted how they'd turned out before they even came into existence, because the same thing happened with newspapers, television, and everything else that's under corporate control.

Anyway, all of the speech restriction is the least of my concerns as far as Facebook is concerned; the reason I don't have a FB account is because of their horrendous privacy-violating policies.  I don't know how anyone could upload personal stuff to that site, but millions of people do, and it's baffling to me.

Where's Elon Musk and his big talk when you need him, eh?

[BlackHatCoiner]

[...]

This perfectly summarizes surveillance capitalism.

Anyway, all of the speech restriction is the least of my concerns as far as Facebook is concerned; the reason I don't have a FB account is because of their horrendous privacy-violating policies.

You may not have a Facebook account, but do you also avoid Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram? If you don't, it's the same as having a Facebook account. All of Meta's products have the same privacy policy, which can be described shortly as:

• We store your data, whether you have an account or not.
• We sell your pictures, videos, texts, identity ultimately to advertisers.
• We can read your private messages.
• We know, and sell, your browsing history.
• We store deleted content.

I don't know how anyone could upload personal stuff to that site, but millions of people do, and it's baffling to me.

Personal stuff such as stories, selfies and videos? Indeed. But, stuff like private messages (which aren't private, lol) are needed, to contact your friends, co-workers, employers etc. I don't say there aren't alternatives, but since that's what most people use, you're, essentially, forced to have it too.

[sovie]

Facebook free speech is dead it's time we move to non US social networks

“Whether you like Facebook or not, we need to recognize what is at stake and come together to stand for free expression at this critical moment,” he said.

But after being deluged with misinformation about COVID-19, hate, and false claims of election fraud—some of which came directly from then-President Donald Trump—Facebook has all but said: "Nevermind, forget what our CEO said."

Under fire, the company has almost entirely reversed course on its free speech haven by clamping down on hate, increasing penalties for users who repeatedly share misinformation, and linking readers of any post related to COVID-19 to information from government sources.

https://fortune.com/2021/06/04/facebook-free-speech-politicians-policy-newsworthiness-hate-speech-misinformation/

I have already stopped using fb - I don't know but I am switched to twitter already.
Fb and instagram have some strict policies and so does twitter. And also it is good to keep your emotions in control while posting on social media. My 2 cents.

[Hydrogen]

China's biggest search engine bing is said to copy google search results, rather than generate their own. Europe has attempted joint development projects, between multiple EU nations, like the eurofighter which fell short of success. Non US nations appear to lack the technical capability, resources and investment capital to deploy large scale social media. Which is one major bottleneck preventing it from becoming a reality. European and asian nations are also subject to super injunctions (court enforced gag orders) and greater regulation of freedom of speech in contrast to the USA.

The harsh truth may be even if social media servers were housed in international waters, outside the jurisdiction of major countries. They still would not escape regulation and laws imposed by major nations. If the servers were located on mars or the moon, outside the reach of regulation. Maybe freedom of speech would have a chance. The way things are now, thepiratebay and others have long tried to escape that net without success.

[Dunamisx]

Facebook free speech is dead it's time we move to non US social networks

I can't even remember how frequent I've been on Facebook this recent times all because of the commitment to bitcointalk forum as I've already found myself addicted to it unlike other social media networks, here the community is places us with a good opportunity to progress in life by the pool of threads and numbers of users committed to giving their best contributory advise in discussion on related areas that could help increase human finance and economic lives and if this must be achieved then bitcoin is the alternative to that which is totally decentralized.

[hatshepsut93]

Non US nations appear to lack the technical capability, resources and investment capital to deploy large scale social media.

You don't need any outstanding technical capability to make a social network, this isn't some military secret, lol. There are Facebook and Twitter analogues all over the world, like for example Russian Vkontakte, which is very popular in Russia and many of its neighbours, much more than Facebook. They can't become global because of the network effect - there's already global social networks and no room for two.

And if you think that the grass is greener on the other side, then think again - China and Russia do so much surveillance that the US is a bastion of privacy, compared to them.

The actual alternative to social networks owned by companies are decentralized social networks that run on open-source software.

[Yogee]

Facebook not doing much about groups mass reporting contents they don't like is already bad enough but adding "fact-checking" is probably their worst move.

....
Where's Elon Musk and his big talk when you need him, eh?

Are you talking about his acquisition of Twitter and the changes he plans to do on the said platform? Probably still securing more funds to meet that $44 billion. News about Twitter becoming more of a free speech social media actually made some of the people I know dropped Facebook and move there.

[avikz]

Free speech?? Lol! If it means spreading hatred - I will go against it! I don't know about other countries, but in my country, the ruling party uses social media like Facebook and Twitter to spread hate against a particular religious community. But so far whatever I have observed, Facebook has been doing a great job censoring them. Same goes with YouTube, they are alao doing a great job censoring hate contents.

So censorship to a certain extent is also needed. If there's no censorship, the powerful political groups will use social media to push their agendas. That's not desirable.

[Haunebu]

Personally, I check Facebook only now and then these days since there are far better alternatives out there these days like Twitter, WhatsApp, Instagram etc.

I don't remember the last time I actually posted something in facebook. Zuck knows that it's dying slowly and steadily which is why he is trying his best to keep it afloat through the metaverse etc which I don't think will help in the long-term.

[yhiaali3]

I always thought that Facebook is the largest spying platform in the world, there is no privacy on Facebook, all your privacy and important information is violated by the company, and it becomes in the hands of the government in the end, of course they always brag about freedom of expression and freedom of opinion but this is all just false information, Post anything they don't like and it will be immediately deleted or even banned, this is of course in addition to the misinformation that the government controls and spreads by force among the people. It's time to move to the decentralized web and decentralized platforms.

[davis196]

What makes you think that the non US social networks are better than than the US social networks?
If you want 100% free speech just host your own blog and write your thoughts there. Almost nobody will read your posts, but at least nobody will censor your free speech. There's no way for the social networks to win the war against trolling, propaganda, fake news, manipulation, hate speech, etc.
Do you really think that the Russian social networks like Vkontakte and Odnoklassniki are better than Facebook, Twitter and Instagram?
Is there any Chinese social network that offers completely free speech and absolutely no censorship? I don't think so.
I've made my mind years ago and I simply don't waste my time on social media.

[Uang_kartal]

I experienced it myself, whatever I wrote on the platform (described an uproarious situation, something that needs to be discussed according to logic and facts) and got muted for the exact time specified. If social media is for interaction, it should not be one-sided to give warning first. even for crypto links or posts sometimes get banned.
I only use my rights to interact, share info and whatever I want to share.
If Facebook is a medium, it should not filter at will (the developer)
a few years ago it wasn't this hard and was free to provide any information.
So, in your opinion, non-As, maybe there are other platforms.
while facebook is currently a giant.

[Bitstar_coin]

When it really dawn on me that Facebook and all its meta apps are heavily spying on users is when i will see certain adds relating to what i look up on like aliexpress or eBay coming up, damn, that company is really surveilling its users no joke.
Beside whatsapp, i don't use my real id with any other social platform especial when there is zero privacy involved. i doubt there is anything like freedom of speech and expression in any of the social platform we have, they are centralized and heavily censored. its time we have a decentralized social platform that really represent freedom of speech and expression.  

[Pomogator]

It really is. It became clear to me after the start of blocking the Russian media and the suspension of the promotion of posts on the pro-Russian topic of the conflict, this site has long been dead. The same goes for Twitter. So far, Telegram is the most adequate messenger for me.

[Maestro75]

Most popular social media is annoying though as paid content gets boosted

As long as those contents get boosted and Facebook gets paid upfront for them, Brother Mark is cool with that. This is such a worrying development to see where a country that boasts itself as the world center for democracy and free speech is hosting the most popular social media platform that restricts free speech. This is a big contradiction. We sacrifice our privacy in the name of making use of Facebook and yet we can hardly express our thoughts without the fear of getting banned.

[Plaguedeath]

Is there anyone in this year still using Facebook? it's a cringey social media with full of old people who posted his daily activity to expose their privacy.

Now Instagram is the most biggest social media, but it's linked with Meta aka Facebook, so the best way is avoid social medias that has collect your data.

[Zlantann]

There's something people don't understand: you write on their platform. Since it's their platform, they make the rules. In US, you may hear about issues with the freedom of speech. In other countries the "bad" posts are simply removed with no fuss. On their platform, we are just the herd that make them money.

Do you want your posts stay under your control? Keep your computer online 24/7 and self-host a blog or whatever. Then it goes by your rules. Nowadays it should not even be that difficult.
Ah, your posts are not seen by so much people? You have to SEO/advertise it? You have to fight your way against rich platforms? Well, life is not supposed to be easy.

This computer age has made man loose freedom and privacy. The truth is that most people cannot do without these social media platforms. Some businesses must use facebook for them to reach their target customers. Most politicians must use twitter to reach their audience. Donald Trump is experimenting with Truth Social to compete with this big tech companies but it has failed to meet its expectations. As long as we must communicate, then these social media are important, hence we must abide by their rules in order to enjoy or use the service they offer. There would never be a perfect social media platform.