Facebook deleted pro-vaccination adverts on political grounds, study finds
Its amazing to me that not only is FB selectively allowing "political" ads, but they are, without exception, only allowing ones from the wrong side of history and decency.
How are vaccines even political? What does FB gain by removing pro-vaccine ads? Its like they are evil just to be evil.
I'm reading between the lines in the article, but I think the reason they banned those wasn't "because they're political" but because the people posting them treated them as non-political (which Facebook disagreed with). Political ads are allowed, but have to self-identify as political and disclose their source of funding. If the creator of an ad says it's non-political and doesn't disclose, then Facebook decides it is political, they pull the ad.
I'm interested to see the content of the ads they decided were political. "Hey, get a flu shot at Walgreens" isn't political, but "hey, vote yes on prop 5 to require public school students to be vaccinated" is.
When antivaxxers pay them to take it down. That's what they gain.
If you ever find yourself reading an article and thinking “wow this doesn’t make any fucking sense” ... there is probably another side that you are not being presented.
Outrage is their business. Movements like anti-vaxx make them money because they are excellent click bait, especially when they cause real problems.
So there’s money to be made by protecting movements like that.
"only allowing ones from the wrong side"
So, this is highly problematic and why all social media is headed for huge trouble. Getting these companies involved in censorship is something we should all regret. It's a road to disaster and we are only at the first roundabout.
Vaccines have become a political issue since politicians started weighing in on the subject. Heck, the President even said something about vaccines causing autism using some anecdotal evidence during a debate preceding the 2016 elections. Like all other aspects of life, this too has devolved into a debate on the rights of parents to determine what is administered to their kids vs. the endangerment of public health through resurgence of diseases caused by non-vaccination.
Idiots want Facebook to police speech, then this is what happens. SHOCKING their idea of what's right is different than our idea of what's right.
How about we not allow megacorporations to tell us what we can and can't say?
Facebook is solidly on the right because they know democrats will regulate them and make them be fair and honest, which costs money. They might even break Facebook up if they gain too much power. Republicans will let them do whatever the fuck they want.
Because $$$.
The anti vax crazies are more likely to vote Republican, the party with all the lobbying money for and from corporations like FB.
Yes, they have to be political lies, political truths are not acceptable.
People need to realise that Facebook is a right wing company
They gain under the table moneyz!
They gain favors!
They gain.
There are largely 2 companies buying anti-vaxx ads, and 83 against. so consider the benefit (as far as a marketing department sees it) of preserving the two companies with a 1:40 ratio for attracting more ad customers.
Facebook had moved from accidentally fascist to intentionally fascist.
My favorite thing to come out of the controversy around Facebook allowing/disallowing certain posts: they developed an algorithm that would ban accounts promoting white supremacy and racism, but decided not to use it because it would have flagged nearly every Republican politician on Facebook. Sounds like the algorithm does its job.
Agreed. Vaccines aren't about politics, they're about health and medicine.
They want to know everything about you. It's not a corporation it's a machine.
How are vaccines even political?
They aren't, broadly speaking. But, they do tend to be administered by states, so that's where it could become a bit political. You'll note groups of people from different countries tend to have different vaccinations from groups of people from other countries. Vaccines tend to be in a state's best interest though, so I'm surprised FB wouldn't be pro-vaccine, because they voluntarily suck the state's dick in so many other ways.
Facebook's business model is to make money off of stupid people. Pro-vaccination ads go against that.
I don't get it , people cheer when facebook started banning people they not like. And said to Facebook , keep doing it
But they change their mind when Facebook starts banning stuff they like
Can't have it both ways
Ban people or don't ban people
Its amazing to me that not only is FB selectively allowing "political" ads,
Source of this?
It's because they make money based on clicks and outrage and arguments. There is little to be gained from allowing truth to propagate through the platform.
Russia has been waging a misinformation campaign regarding vaccines for years now. Given that Facebook tends to side with them on most issues, I'm guessing this has something to do with that.
Everything is political because everything stems from our social status quo. Saying that you should vaccinate is a commentary on the sociopolitical reality of there being debate on the matter same as saying you shouldn't vaccinate is.
This is just how any "no politics" rule gets enforced, either anything remotely controversial is quashed or anything which challenges the enforcer's platonic ideal of society is quashed.
Basically from this we can tell that whoever Facebook entrusted to enforce this policy believes "politics" is anything that contradicts what they think is right.
What does FB gain by removing pro-vaccine ads?
Money. Maybe not much, but provaxx ads exist because of antivaxx ads... take one, loose the other.
I don’t egg bff en mess with Fakebook anymore. I’m so over it and ready for the next big thing.
Yep. Corporations care more about being evil than making money. You figured it out. What a genius!
The zuck is one of those bug eyed skullpeople from they live.
Eventually, most of the profiles will be dead people. They’re just embracing the future. Forever young dead people profiles.
Because it's polarizing so it's not just to be evil. They're making money by being evil.
We know exactly why they do this. Just like we know why there was so much misinformation in politics to begin with. It's the money. The evil is the part where they just do not care what happens to anything or anyone else.
More suffering is more ad clicks. Facebook's logic is as simple as it is immoral
It seemed they realize anti-vac movement is a psyops campaign created by Russians to to test the effectiveness of SNS based brainwashing against Americans. It's all political and FB is the main operational theater. I believe the Putin only pushed Trump out to run for president after he discovered that if you used FB, you can convince gullible Americans to put their own kids in harm's way.
Anti vaccine to own the libs! /s
However that particular dumbfuckery seems to be non-partisan.
It doesn’t even make sense to consider it a political issue, because anti-vaxx and pro-vaxx exist in pretty much every political school of thought.
If it’s a matter of liberal vs conservative, you have anti vaxxers on BOTH ends of that scale
Outrage gets you to post more shit to outrage others. It's a vicious circle. Quit. Subscribe to r/wholesomememes
They are evil because they are greedy. It's always about the money. Apparently the anti vax movement spends way more in advertising than pro vax as stated in the article.
They know who their user base is.
A bunch of bored-ass empty nesting parents with nothing better to do than dive head-first into the stupidest bogus bullshit imaginable.
This is historically inaccurate, while it’s obviously right to say that removing pro-vaccine ads is egregiously bad and stupid it’s extremely incorrect to say that they are largely swayed to one side (we know you are referring to conservative ideas)
Techdudebros seem to be shitty people. It's like they will always do the vad thing
If they don’t publish anti vaccine ads then why would they publish pro vaccine ads. People would crucify them
Its amazing to me that not only is FB selectively allowing "political" ads, but they are, without exception, only allowing ones from the wrong side of history and decency.
They are playing the part of agent of chaos. Misdirect and mislead the common person in all directions but the one you dont want them going in.
Zuckerberg is “KOMPROMAT.” He is one of Putin’s “useful idiots.”
Cynical take? Removing vaccines creates more decease, which in turn creates profit for some parties.
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Not a surprise. Just one type of disease protecting others.
Hate and outrage drives revenue for Fox News.
Hate and outrage drives revenue for Facebook.
Hindsight is 2020. Users should of demanded common sense rules early.
It is interesting you say that because the way a contagious disease spreads is similar to how a rumor spreads over social network. A highly connected system greatly facilitates the transfer of false information just like a contagious disease. This is not just about facebook as a company (which sucks) but the whole of social media. What the article shows is that if someone sufficiently well-funded can come up with a well-planned and organized way to spread false information, it will work and people will start questioning even universally accepted things. This needs to be tackled in a similarly organized way, otherwise, the consequences can be just as bad as a contagious disease.
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It’s time we take back our lives. FUCK ZUCK. DELETE FACEBOOK. I DID.
You have to look very hard to find anything - literally any human organization beyond a family - that isn't run by a sociopath (or natural psychopath) of one degree or another. Virtually everyone in any tenuous, fractional authority over someone has been corrupted to some degree. Look real hard at people in charge and see if more than 1 in 10 seems remotely human and compassionate anymore. I don't care if it's your bowling league or the Presidency, and everything in between. Most people in authority are awful nightmares of human beings. Power simply corrupts, and we don't do enough to check it.
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What a misleading, bullshit headline just like when the same story was posted a week ago. This is Facebook enforcing a new policy of verifying the organization and funding source behind ads. They were only told to verify and were confused (understatement since they went to the media). They were never denied the ability to run ads. They did verify and their ads were allowed to run. So what the fuck, Reddit?! Do you want transparency or did you upvote this post and/or comment without knowing anything about what's happening because you're easily manipulated?
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Alternate headline: “Facebook endangers public health for profit”
I don’t know how folks that work there sleep at night
Many of them probably don't.
Take a peek into some of the content policing centers where they verify flagged explicit/traumatic content.
I've heard it's just every ten seconds taking a look at some mega disturbing image ranging from child porn, regular porn, and gore and sorting it.
Skynet’s first attempt to wipe out humanity: stupid people who want measles.
They wont as long as you label them political, they said they wont remove just highlight, but in this case they failed to disclose the political add as one.
We interviewed official Facebook representatives about vaccines and how they treat vaccine-related content. It got...awkward.
If you’re relying on Facebook for your political and medical news, you’ve already lost.
For those saying to delete FB, in order to be consistent I sure hope you also deleted Instagram, WhatsApp, messenger, and never use Occulus.
What's the over-under on how long until washing one's hands after taking a shit is politically divisive?
People gotta remember that Instagram is owned by Facebook. When the boomers and gen X parents out there stop using the service FB will have a whole new generation that already call Instagram home.
There will, without a doubt come a time when we hear a news story about how facebook helped a foreign government spy on the United States and sold ridiculous amounts of US citizen data to a foreign power.
When that time comes, we will have nobody to blame but ourselves, and the governing bodies that refuse to do anything but courtroom theater with Zuckerberg.
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Boy imagine a world where claiming invisible parasites are being injected as part of a conspiracy to give kids autism is 'political' and not fucking insanity
The fact that we now live in a society where vaccinations are a political issue makes me really question why I bothered to serve this country at all.
Facebook is run by right leaning billionaires. Look at Cambridge Analytica - basically handed them data and hid it. Look at Lucky Palmer openly hiring trolls to support Trump. They are not even pretending to be balanced or neutral.
Social media is no longer social or media. It is antisocial advertising with a loose wrapper of connecting people so they can watch the same ads. Facebook is but one example. Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, Snapchat, Tiktok, are the same but without the crazy stupid money Facebook has. Yes, even Reddit. On all social platforms, when the primary function turns from its initial purpose to clickbait and ads the platform is no longer serving user interests.
We can live in an endless cycle of using and abandoning platforms after making that turn, forever handing data to new sketchy people to sell. Or we can regulate them, provide security to user data, and force platforms to develop a business model based on something besides selling out users to time to ads.
It was about damn time. I wonder how much will people take bullshit from Facebook. The disturbing fact is how big they are and will get so it's really hard to get rid of them from your life.
It’s actually quite easy. Delete your profile. Delete any app owned by FB. Don’t buy products produced by any company owned by FB. Done.
I wonder if it's possible for everyone that can't be vaccinated to form a class and file a Class Action lawsuit against facebook and anti-vax foundations? Their standing would be that their health is being jeopardized by these dangerous messages
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How? How do you end Facebook? Please explain to me how you would go about legally shutting down a company of that scale.
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I don’t think it’s useful to target crazy people with rational arguments. It’s not changing their minds.
You can use rational arguments to reinforce a loosely held belief. So pro-vaxx arguments will make people who don’t care or not he fence decide to be pro-vaxx.
I do think that these anti-vaxx and mommy groups and single mom and pyramid scheme groups need to be getting targets ads from therapy and mental health services.
Services that can help these people that are vulnerable to listening their the loudest voice in the room to think critically and break out of a bubble on their own. Because that’s the only way to win. Critical thinking will always lead people to the truth. Spouting facts will not. Critical thinking and emotional arguments are the only arguments that work with low information individuals. Only people specifically educated on a given topic can be swayed by new arguments on that topic.
in zucc voice “Umm sorry we actually had to take down your post because it didn’t do enough to harm society, and also it wasn’t a minion meme.”
Why are people still on Facebook? They push lies and give your data away for free. To anyone
Just add them to the same regulation as all other forms of media. Problem solved let’s move on in life.
If you use this company's products you are complicit in the harm it's causing our world. No one needs Facebook or Instagram or WhatsApp. Even React.js has good alternatives.
Complete garbage. Bringing back diseases one moron funded cash cow at a time.
Face.
4 letters.
Book.
4 letters.
Evil.
Also 4 letters.
Coincidence?
It should never have been political - it should have never even been controversial. Facts should never, ever be controversial.
No one trusts experts anymore, the internet enables people to just say or do whatever they want and blur the line of “expert” versus fraud. And you have a lot of frauds on the internet peddling anti-vaxx bullshit, under the guise of “expertise.”
Yup. Not just vaccine crap either. I saw an article on FB a while back giving “some guy who uses FB” the same platform as a PhD-holding expert on political science. Like, WTF? A random dude should never have his ignorant opinion put in the same time zone as a PhD, let alone on the exact same level of understanding.
However, the data was taken from Facebook’s advertising archive in December 2018 and February 2019, before it initiated updated advertising policies in March 2019, which included blocking false vaccine-related content and preventing targeting people “interested in vaccine controversies”.
So the findings were determined on something Facebook then went and set new policy to (presumably) remedy?
Seriously, I did this about 6 months ago (IG too) and my life has improved in so many ways. Less stressed, less anxious, less angry. I still know what’s going on in my friend’s/family’s lives. I still am informed regarding current events. Facebook is straight poison.
alternative headline: companies that purchased ads either didn't verify themselves on Facebook (they send a postcard with a code) or they forgot to click the "This ad contains political content"
Facebook errs on the side of caution... I used a screenshot of a newspaper for a tiny portion of my ad and Facebook rejected it as political
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I think we all agree here that facebook is a rapist. You should preach to people who arent cured yet.
This is such a BS title and none of the commenters have actually read the article. You’re all a bunch of sheep.
I thought that developers at fb were somehow one of the best in the world.
I work in the marketing/ communications sphere. Even after FB physically mailed me a verification code, I’m still not allowed to run “political” ads.
Edit: “Politics” is clean air and education.
Technically everything is "political" as soon as some jerk wants to make a law about it. :/
Facebook: we can’t delete anti-vax adverts that violates freedom of speech Also facebook:
I deleted my Facebook account and could not be happier. I don't understand why everyone bitches about Facebook, when all they have to do is get rid of it. It's 99.9999% garbage and lies, anyway.
Because opting out of an ecosystem doesn't mean it all of a sudden doesn't exist and the only influence it's losing is over you.
What happened to the "They're a private company" shills when Reddit started censoring speech?
Censor speech I agree with = OMGWTFBBQ?!
Censor speech I disagree with = just fine and dandy.
I wonder what Putin could have promised Zuckerberg if there was, hypothetically, a meeting.
Seriously, what the fuck is wrong with Facebook? OK I get maybe you allow anti-vac adverts for the money but why would you delete pro-vaccination adverts?
If people are putting up political advertisements it does not matter if the political topic being discussed is abortion, vaccines, or school choice, it has to be labeled as a political ad to be put up on facebook.
So anyone posting an a supporting pro-vaccine ballot measures without indicating that it is a political ad is in the wrong.
This is pretty simple and straight forward stuff. Not sure here the confusion is coming in.
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This fucking company gives the tech industry a bad name I’m sick of it.
Because fuck science, right Zuckerberg? This isn't about politics, it's about people's fucking lives.
This is one of many huge problems with our country right now. Scientific evidence is not political. People who profit by ignoring it have labeled science and scientists as political.
It is worth remembering: Facebook's head of global policy was a law clerk for Scalia, and sat behind Brett Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearings. They are not the good guys.
Facebook is really messed up. Definitely keeping my family away from this shithole.
Yet, Karen can keep re-posting anti-vaxx nonsense with ease from all manner of shady websites.
According to the article, only pro-vax ads that are poorly crafted get pulled. In other words, the language of the ads leads the algorithm to pull them because they appear to be political.
The article goes on to state that many of the anti-vax ads on Facebook are from well-funded groups who are careful to phrase their ads to avoid being pulled. So, this isn't an issue of Facebook intentionally perpetuating false information, but of one side understanding their system while another is unaware of how it works.
If anything, this is another reason to avoid Facebook. Why, after years of mishandling of user data, anyone continues to maintain an account on the Facebook platform is a puzzle to me.
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Burned my FB to the ground. They really make it hard to leave though. Fuck em.
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