Re:Facebook launches petition feature, its next battlefield
by claudiawerner on Monday January 21, 2019 @12:04PM
(#18961685)
Isn't it true that not a single petition on the UK gov website has resulted in a change in the law? Isn't it also true that most petitions are quickly dismissed with the claim that the topic has already been debated?
The petition system actually just made me think how futile and dysfunctional this [bourgeois, if I may use the word] democracy is.
This is the ONLY one that impels the UK government to debate, and ultimately vote on each petition (providing the petition has garnered enough signatures).
However a LOT people in the UK use the change.org system, which has absolutely NO legal standing, and they get upset when the government ignores them. I can see this Facebook system being exactly the same. If Facebook REALLY cared about fair democracy, they'd just highlight and link to each countries existing online petition systems (if one exists) instead of building their own system. Of course they can't data mine the official petition systems can they...