Huh … if Congress goes through and makes Facebook be more politically balanced …
… what happens here on SDMB?
I thought the left wanted the Fairness Doctrine back?
Lots of media outlets send news feeds to Facebook. And the stuff in question is what is trending. I’m not on it, but my impression is that each user can set up a newsfeed, and that is not affected at all.
What is trending is clearly a judgement call. There is an algorithm, but the design of that can affect what comes out. Some people who worked there told the Times that they do use the credibility of the source as a criterion, so there goes Breitbart.
The difference between this and the Fairness Doctrine is sharing of a public resource. The TV/radio spectrum is a finite public resource, its usage falling under government domain. If the Right would like Facebook regulated on the same terms as the Fairness Document, they have to stop undermining net neutrality and in the process admit that there’s nothing preventing conservatives from putting up their own Facebook equivalent and curating their own news however they see fit.
HMS Irruncible: Exactly so. No liberal ever tried to apply the fairness doctrine to subscription magazines, or privately-mailed newsletters, or blogs or podcasts.
TV and Radio, yes, because those are defined as publicly-owned media.
A great many of us want to see the Internet classified as a “common carrier,” so that the Internet connection itself has no responsibility for what goes over it, any more than the Post Office is responsible for the content of letters that get mailed. Someone can send me a death threat, and the Post Office isn’t guilty of any wrongdoing in delivering that letter to me.
I mean, you want your own conservative news slant on the internet? Go to Conservapedia. Go to RedState. Go to places I won’t mention. If you really want conservative echo chambers of stupid, the buffet is literally unlimited. Facebook doesn’t charge you anything or take any of your tax dollars. Embrace the private enterprise.
- They’re looking to see if they can link Hillary to this in any way.
Hey, you never know till you try.
Is it Congress’ business? Yes, if only to get answers. If Facebook claimed to be liberal or was generally understood to be liberal, then it wouldn’t matter. Since Facebook squelching conservative news is well, news to most people, Congress demanding answers was reasonable.
However, Congress can’t actually do anything about it. Freedom of the press.
As a general principle though, Congress can ask for explanations about any subject of national concern.
Would you say a congress person should spend their time seeking an explanation that they can do nothing about or would you rather they enquire about things that they actually can do something about? Since their time is not unlimited and we are footing the bill for what they do, I’m going to say it’s the latter.
In other words, the fact that they can’t do anything about it is makes it none of their business. They aren’t acting as citizens but employees and what employees are tasked with wasting their company’s time?
Lastly, in what way is Facebook content a subject of national concern? I don’t get it but then again, I don’t often use Facebook. Am I failing the nation somehow? I don’t want anyone concerned; I just don’t like Facebook.
Facebook has huge power as a media aggregator. Congress asks questions to raise the national profile of the issue, to get citizens more concerned, which has had the desired effect on Facebook. Although I’m not sure it would have mattered if Congress had gotten involved or not, since Facebook needs its conservative membership as much as their liberal membership.
If you say so. I say concentrating on the trivial is far less important than solving the actual problems of your constituents but if this is what America would rather they spend their time on, they shouldn’t complain that nothing ever gets done. At least they’ll know that their congress has given Facebook a stern talking to, if they even bother to do that.
I’m actually amused by the idea that Congress can actually raise the profile of an issue regarding Facebook. Facebook has a much higher profile than the Congress to most people so any news about them, people know. I don’t even use the product and I was aware of this before I heard the Congress was getting involved which I learned by reading this thread. Facebook did something wrong I get on my newsfeed right away, Congress saying anything about it? Crickets. I had to google it to even find a cite which I would not have done had I not read this thread.
I agree that Facebook needs it’s conservative membership so this issue is being solved in spite of Congress who is just grandstanding to raise their own profile IMHO. See America, we really do care!
Like I mentioned in the other thread about this, this is a big story on FoxNews and among Republicans that regularly appear on FoxNews.
And of course, they don’t see the obvious double standard. 
Some reason they can’t let the free market do it’s magic?
This.
Facebook is not a traditional news media outlet–in fact, Facebook does not describe itself as a journalistic enterprise. I find this comparison lacking merit.
Also, the point here is that we need to raise awareness about this. Social media is meant to be a translucent relfection of the people–their lives, their thoughts, events in their lives, etc. Purposely censoring political speech of a particular bent should outrage all of us. This is not about “conservatards are dumb racist and evil so it’s okay.”
At least, it shouldn’t be.
Social media is a medium for selling advertisements, same as conventional media. Social media outlets will manipulate their structure to do what they think will lead to the most profitable selling of ads, same as conventional media. If that means that social media filters news differently than AM talk radio because its demographics are different, well, whatever. Zuckerberg not displaying certain stories is no different than Limbaugh not putting alternative viewpoints on the air.
It’s is an unregulated, private company. They can and will do exactly what they want. But if you’re really that upset about it, go found your own private company catering to conservative interests and you can censor all the liberal posts you want.
Why is it Congress’ role to get answers?
As I understand it, Congress’ role in getting answers is to decide whether any new laws might be needed. Other than in such situations, why should they have the right to demand answers from anyone?
No, we don’t, because there is no “this” there.
and make them pay for it:p
Somehow, I’m guessing Breitbart and The Drudge Report will magically escape the notice of all the people horribly upset by this.
Note to posters: No non-broadcast news site has any obligation whatsoever to be Fair and Balanced. (And the rules on broadcast news were weakened tremendously under Reagan.)
Whether Facebook is a news site or not does not matter in the least.
If you don’t like politics of a site, don’t go there.