Most Americans believe social media sites censor political views

[midian182]

A hot potato: Are social media sites politically biased? Almost three-quarters of Americans think so. According to a survey carried out by Pew Research Center, 72 percent of adults believe it’s somewhat likely that companies such as Facebook and Twitter censor political views they find objectionable.

Conducted between May 29 and June 1, the Pew study asked 4,594 people for their opinions on technology companies. While 62 percent of Democrats said social media might be censoring certain political views, the overwhelming majority—85 percent—of Republican and Republican-leaning adults believe this is the case. Additionally, 64 percent of Republicans think technology companies support the views of liberals over conservatives.

But this doesn’t mean Americans believe tech companies are bad. 74 percent say they have been good for them personally, though only 63 percent think the firms have had a positive impact on society as a whole.

The argument that tech firms suppress conservative views has been raging for many years. It was back in 2016 when an editorial team of Facebook contractors claimed they stopped articles from conservative sites appearing in the Trending Topics section, which was recently scrapped. The subject was also brought up during Mark Zuckerberg’s congressional hearing.

Facebook isn’t the only company to face the accusations. According to the Washington Post, Twitter boss Jack Dorsey has had secret dinners with conservative leaders to discuss potential bias on the platform.

Last year, Google employee James Damore was fired for writing a 10-page manifesto titled “Google’s Ideological Echo Chamber.” He went on to sue his former employer for allegedly discriminating against white, conservative males whose views contrast those of Google execs.

Ultimately, relatively few Americans trust major tech firms to do what is right, and 51 percent say they should be more tightly regulated.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/75303-most-americans-believe-social-media-sites-censor-political.html

 

[Teko03]

So people are actually choosing to believe memes..../facepalm

 

[MonsterZero]

So people are actually choosing to believe memes..../facepalm

I feel like that is the utter truth, you hit the nail right on the head. As much as I love the internet, it's making stupid people more stupid, and unfortunately there are more stupid people than not.

 

[LenovoX]

So people are actually choosing to believe memes..../facepalm

I feel like that is the utter truth, you hit the nail right on the head. As much as I love the internet, it's making stupid people more stupid, and unfortunately there are more stupid people than not.

The mother of stupid people is knocked up every minute... and she delivers!

 

[wiyosaya]

So people are actually choosing to believe memes..../facepalm

It is always easier to believe what you are told rather than research something and formulate your own opinion on it.

As to where it might come from, IMO, the world has a history of supporting societal constructs where there is a supreme authority and to question that authority instantly makes anyone who does so a pariah.

 

[p51d007]

Well of course they do! We can't have people reading unpure thoughts now can we?
Sites have to click bait to get people to view them, to run up hit counts to increase ad revenue.
My general rule is DO NOT believe anything you read on the web, unless you can independently
verify it through a source YOU trust.

 

[Evernessince]

It doesn't really matter if or if not Facebook messed with it's trending topics, it's clearly fine with insane conspiracy theories and hate politics on it's platform. The only thing Facebook has done consistently is divide Americans to make a quick buck. Zuckerberg once said he wanted to leave behind something his children would be proud of and he is doing the exact opposite of that.

 

[Uncle Al]

I find it's a lot like some of the fake news ...... that is to say that it's getting harder to distinguish between fact and fiction and since anyone with half an ounce of sense can start producing their own junk news it can only get worse. One of the unfortunate down sides to free speech .....

 

[JaredTheDragon]

Sure, Facebook and the other media sites are censoring whatever they want. It's part of their TOS.

Same with this site - I've been put on 30-day ban twice now, with no idea what I said that caused the ban and no way to check and find out. No clue as to what post or response I made that triggered the ban, so I have no way of knowing what NOT to say here. But it's in their TOS, so there's nothing to do but censor oneself as best one can.

At least Facebook has the good grace to tell us which post caused a ban. Ick, I'm actually defending that site. First time, last time.

 

[ghostf1re]

I'm a firm believer that these social media sites are censoring topics they don't agree with. I've seen time and time again groups on Facebook that have conservative views be removed from the platform with little to no explanation as to what they did. The thing to note is these companies reserve the right to do essentially whatever they want with the content that shows up. We are using THEIR platform after all. Do I agree with it? Absolutely not, but they are doing what they want.

 

[captaincranky]

The mother of stupid people is knocked up every minute... and she delivers!

Is that the actual statistic, or did you just pull it out of thin air?

Because I figure the actual interval is closer to 10 seconds.....7,000,000 billion and counting....(y)

Oh look at this, we're both way off:

"The UNICEF estimates that an average of 353,000 babies are born each day around the world. The crude birth rate is 18.9 births per 1,000 population or 255 births globally per minute or 4.3 births every second (as of Dec. 2013 estimate). 154,889 deaths take place as daily average."

(This of course, presumes all of them are stupid, or will be rendered stupid through various forms of propaganda, which really isn't that far from the truth).

 

[captaincranky]

Sure, Facebook and the other media sites are censoring whatever they want. It's part of their TOS.

Same with this site - I've been put on 30-day ban twice now, with no idea what I said that caused the ban and no way to check and find out. No clue as to what post or response I made that triggered the ban, so I have no way of knowing what NOT to say here. But it's in their TOS, so there's nothing to do but censor oneself as best one can.

At least Facebook has the good grace to tell us which post caused a ban. Ick, I'm actually defending that site. First time, last time.

C'mon Jared, the last post of yours pulled before you got the ban notice, (and the tenor of the dialog leading up to it), is most likely the principle cause. Although IMHO, our mods and our administrator are reasonably long suffering and very fair.

And FWIW, I know sites that will permanently ban a member, for questioning the actions of a moderator, in any way, in open forum.

(To the best of my knowledge, not this site). But still, a word to the wise.

 

[EClyde]

They do and you know it

 

[captaincranky]

They do and you know it

In all honesty, no, I don't know that.

I've never gone off on a mod, the staff writers, or this site, in the forum, so I certainly can't speak from experience. If I get a post pulled, I simply go forward, basing my response, (both public and private), on the old sweepstakes rule that, "decision of the judges is final", and leave well enough alone.

 

[EClyde]

In all honesty, no, I don't know that.

I've never gone off on a mod, the staff writers, or this site, in the forum, so I certainly can't speak from experience. If I get a post pulled, I simply go forward, basing my response, (both public and private), on the old sweepstakes rule that, "decision of the judges is final", and leave well enough alone.

What else are ya gonna do? Quit the force to get even? LOL

 

[captaincranky]

What else are ya gonna do? Quit the force to get even? LOL

Of course not, I have my pension to think of....