Most Americans Think Facebook and Twitter Censor Their Political Views

Re:Most Americans Think Facebook and Twitter Censor Their Po... by TaylorAlexander on Thursday June 28, 2018 @11:44AM (#17417837)

I’ve observed a similar phenomena on articles about the wrongdoings of the US government. Well cited high quality articles about historical or contemporary US aggression overseas disappear quickly even when they had been getting upvotes.

I noticed a similar trend on Facebook. My posts about the tragedy occurring right now in Yemen got almost no traffic on Facebook, despite being worded and cited similarly to my other popular posts.

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Re:Most Americans Think Facebook and Twitter Censor Their Po... by Andrex on Thursday June 28, 2018 @01:05PM (#17418644)

Isn't it possible that what's happening in Yemen, just but its nature, is a turn-off for most of FB's user base?

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Re:Most Americans Think Facebook and Twitter Censor Their Po... by TaylorAlexander on Thursday June 28, 2018 @05:48PM (#17420767)

Yes and that’s the rub. Previously a journalist decided what stories people should hear. Now an algorithm tuned to people’s engagement levels decides what we should see. It may have the effect of burying important stories that make people uncomfortable, which a journalist might not do. Just because people would rather not know about Yemen doesn’t mean we’re better off if people don’t know about Yemen.

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