How Social Media (Facebook, Google, Youtube) is not good.

"The main culprit, Haugen said, is Facebook’s desire to maximize engagement, which has turned its algorithm and platform design into a giant bullhorn for hate speech and misinformation... For clickbait farms, getting into the monetization programs is the first step, but how much they cash in depends on how far Facebook’s content-recommendation systems boost their articles. They would not thrive, nor would they plagiarize such damaging content, if their shady tactics didn’t do so well on the platform."

From "How Facebook and  Google

fund Global Misinformation."

If you are not suspicious or at least wary of Facebook, you should be.

Frances Haugen was a Facebook Product Manager who is henceforth known as "the Facebook Whistleblower" for her revelations about Facebook's "prioritizing profit over public safety".

The article "How Facebook and Google fund Global Misinformation" explores how exactly Facebook and Google actively, or inadvertently (or AD-vertently) promotes or sustain "clickbait farms" - websites or webpages that churn out "hyperpartisan news, misinformation, and outrage bait because it gets more engagement."

Many clickbait farms today now monetize with both Instant Articles [Facebook programme] and AdSense [Google], receiving payouts from both companies. And because Facebook’s and YouTube’s algorithms boost whatever is engaging to users, they’ve created an information ecosystem where content that goes viral on one platform will often be recycled on the other to maximize distribution and revenue.

If I understand the article, Facebook, Google, and Youtube allows clickbait farms to manufacture or amplify outrage (because outrage motivates us more than bliss) because it causes or creates "engagement", which means more "clicks" and so Facebook, Google and Youtube can sell more ads. Or earn more profits from advertisements. 

This whips up/churns up "clickbaity" articles that are suspect at best, and outrageously false at worst. 

But it generates "engagement". And the algorithm can then recommend other equally clickbaity articles or videos. 

And you find yourself in the rabbit hole.

And there are some attempts to remedy this. Or some lip service at attempting to remedy this.

"... Haugen highlighted the fundamental flaws of Facebook’s content-based approach to platform abuse. The current strategy, focused on what can and cannot appear on the platform, can only be reactive and never comprehensive, she said. Not only does it require Facebook to enumerate every possible form of abuse, but it also requires the company to be proficient at moderating in every language. Facebook has failed on both counts—and the most vulnerable people in the world have paid the greatest price, she said.
The main culprit, Haugen said, is Facebook’s desire to maximize engagement, which has turned its algorithm and platform design into a giant bullhorn for hate speech and misinformation...
As a result, weeding out the farms themselves isn’t the solution: highly motivated actors will always be able to spin up new websites and new pages to get more money. Instead, it’s the algorithms and content reward mechanisms that need addressing.
... one possible way Facebook could do this: by using what’s known as a graph-based authority measure to rank content. This would amplify higher-quality pages like news and media and diminish lower-quality pages like clickbait, reversing the current trend.
Haugen emphasized that Facebook’s failure to fix its platform was not for want of solutions, tools, or capacity. “Facebook can change but is clearly not going to do so on its own,” she said. “My fear is that without action, the divisive and extremist behaviors we see today are only the beginning. What we saw in Myanmar and are now seeing in Ethiopia are only the opening chapters of a story so terrifying no one wants to read the end of it.”

The article is more concerned with hotspots like Myanmar and Ethiopia where genocide and human rights abuses are fuelled or justified by Outrage bait. Or the US elections. 

But there are other issues of fake news, like vaccine scepticism and other conspiracy theories. We (Singapore) have no jurisdiction over Facebook (now known as Meta, as in "Make Everything Terrifying Always"), Google (previously, "Don't be evil", now...) or Youtube. But we do have ways to regulate the news - The Newspaper and Printing Presses Act. Which is less relevant in the age of Social Media. 

So maybe it's time for a Social Media Act?