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Facebook Will Stop Recommending Health Groups (theverge.com) 38

Posted by BeauHD from the new-rules dept.
The Verge reports on the new rules Facebook is adding to slow the spread of misinformation and other harmful content on its Groups feature. From the report: Some of the new policies encourage more active administration of groups. If administrators step down, they can invite members to take their place; if nobody does, Facebook will apparently "suggest" admin roles to members, then archive the group if that fails. Also, if group members accrue a community standards violation, moderators will have to approve all their posts for 30 days. If the moderators repeatedly approve posts that violate Facebook's guidelines, the group could be removed.

The health guidelines take a broader approach by focusing on an entire category of content, not specific rule-breaking behavior. Facebook says that although groups can "be a positive space for giving and receiving support during difficult life circumstances ... it's crucial that people get their health information from authoritative sources." Facebook also says it's continuing to limit content from militia groups and other organizations linked to violence. Groups that discuss potential violence will be removed, and it will soon down-rank even non-violating content in the News Feed.
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Facebook Will Stop Recommending Health Groups More

Facebook Will Stop Recommending Health Groups

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  • that people get their health information from authoritarian sources.

    Oh damn! Did I say that?

  • Who Is Paying Them (Score:1, Insightful)

    by rtb61 ( 674572 )

    Hmm, let me guess, ohh yeah, BUY PHARMACEUTICAL DRUGS AT INFLATED PRICES, you cheap fuckers, right up until they fucking kill you, filthy dirty nobody workers. That is all it is, no more diet recommendation, no more healthy eating, no healthy mental practices, nor more nothing that does not start with doctors and end with prescriptions until they day they bankrupt and kill you. Ohh Facebook you suck a steaming pile of shite holes.

    • Facebook is full of fake miracle cures. Look up a YouTube named Genetic Skeptic who covers a lot of them (especially the "Essential Oils" crap).

      With COVID you can bet your ass those scams are exploding. Facebook had traditionally profited off them thanks to engagement and ad sales, but they're probably getting so big they're worried the FDA is going to come down on them for it. So they're pulling the plug. That's literally all this is.

      You can still do all your health themed Facebook groups, but you'

    • The so called alternative medicine typically isn't cheap, and what's worse, it doesn't actually help you in any meaningful way beyond possibly a placebo effect. The whole alternative medicine industry is basically built on fraud, and Facebook promotes fraud.

  • Facebook & Harmful Content (Score:4, Insightful)

    by J1896 ( 7064685 ) on Thursday September 17, 2020 @10:04PM (#60517628)
    If Facebook truly wanted to stop the spread of harmful content, it would shut itself down and declare bankruptcy.

  • One man's misinformation (Score:3)

    by Jarwulf ( 530523 ) on Thursday September 17, 2020 @10:18PM (#60517650)
    Misinformation==an ever expanding category of wrongthink

    • Re:One man's misinformation (Score:4, Insightful)

      by MightyMartian ( 840721 ) on Thursday September 17, 2020 @11:30PM (#60517754) Journal

      You do know that reality dictates that some things are just plan wrong. Antivaxxers and other diseminators of fake medical information should be given the heave ho

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by Jarwulf ( 530523 )
        Yes but they can never control themselves and inevitably they expand the definition of 'misinformation'. This past decade has been proof of that over and over again.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        Beware people defending anti-vaxx, 5G conspiracy theories and other pop-bullshit. It's a gateway into even worse stuff and while it's possible they are just morons who believe that stuff it's also possible they want to keep the pewdie-pipeline operating.

    • and your ignorance is dangerous. Facebook is a breeding ground for quack cures, phony meds and good 'ole Homeopathy. COVID is making that stuff explode. FB is getting out in front of it because if they don't sooner or later the FDA is going to come calling.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by Jarwulf ( 530523 )
        Nothing's 'out of control'. People are BSing as they always do. We've had decades where the Internet was the Wild West far beyond anything we see today and we haven't pancaked as a society. What has changed is the media turning its gaze toward independent speech and doing what they do best ie making everything seem like its the apocalypse because they are largely in the bag for one side and want to make it easier to squash any dissent under the guise of cracking down on conspiracy kooks. Kooks and free spee

    • People can still be wrong about matters of life and death, they just can be as wrong, as publicly, without making more of an effort.

      Given the stakes and availability of objective criteria, medicine should be one of the least controversial areas of content moderation. Simultaneously, the stakes and specialized knowledge required mean that a lot of otherwise intelligent people will latch on to theories like morgellions or Steve Jobs' juice cleanse cancer cure.

  • Post health advice as a political messages. For instance:

    - Lose weight FAST: register to vote. The candidates are so nauseating you'll eat less.
    - Support the GOP to cure coronavirus: if they have their way, 5G will never happen. No 5G, no coronavirus!
    - Symptoms to watch out for: your skin looks yellow? You might have cirrhosis. You skin look orange? You might be running for president.

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • In the final week or two French electoral officials basically shut down political tweets, so it can be done.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by Jarwulf ( 530523 )
        Too bad we have this thing called freedom of speech in America.
        • Comment removed based on user account deletion

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Jarwulf ( 530523 )
            MM talked about election officials suppressing speech with what suspiciously looks like an air of approval.
            • Comment removed based on user account deletion

              • as long as the suppression actions are independent of political view?

                All justifications for censorship are political, even the ones everyone agrees with.

                • Comment removed based on user account deletion

                  • Re: (Score:2)

                    by Jarwulf ( 530523 )
                    If you're talking about content neutrality it might be a problem if you ban political tweets but still allow tweets with advertising content selling cola or whatever. But I'm not a lawyer and lazy so you might want to double check that.

            • They were suppressing Russian attempts at tampering with the French presidential election.

            • There's almost no one who isn't okay with suppressing free speech, it's just a matter of where and when. Even Hugo Black, who was one of the justices who championed an "absolutist" interpretation of the first amendment, waffled on this later in life. How do you feel about sharing nuclear codes? Or yelling fire in a crowded theater? Those things are certainly examples of speech.
        • Yes, this thing where you can't force private companies to spew all your BS that you're free to spew yourself.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

          You also have political campaigning laws.

          Anyway these are private companies so freedom of speech doesn't apply. People have tried suing them in court for constitutional violations and have been laughed out.

    • I do get that Facebook could be used to coordinate or incite riots or other mass violence, but I think we're in a position where it's almost guaranteed that either on election night or shortly thereafter, we're going to have mass violence regardless. No matter who wins or looks to be winning, large groups of people are angry and scared that if "their guy" doesn't get to sit in the oval office, the entire world will burn down. So much so that they'll be more than happy to light the match.

  • That sure has a Big Brother feel to it.
  • "will soon down-rank even non-violating content in the News Feed" - It would be simpler to downrate everything from American news organizations.

  • Isn't that just newspeak for 'approved sources that follow the party line'?

    There is never a single truth about anything, especially not when it comes to medical stuff. Let's take covid-19...

    Where did it come from? - Some claims it came from bats, some that it came from pangolins and some that was bioengineered in a lab. What is true here? What is the single unifying truth?

    What works to help ease the disease? - Malaria medication? The 100 year old Calmette vaccination? Both?

    Bottom line is that there is no tr

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