Op-Ed: Mark Zuckerberg’s Manifesto Is a Political Trainwreck
Without humans in the cycle any AI filtration service is going to fail, gamers game, and SEO optimizers optimize. Zukerberg wants to internationalize but fails to see that external influence on local elections is part of this problem. (E.G. some of Trump’s loud online support came from well organized anti-Muslim groups outside of our country.)
Meaningful groups sound like they would be ideal for politicians trying to garner a local following. Let’s say you’re a politician who wants to create a meaningful group around keeping your national borders safe. You want to connect locals with each other to organize protests against immigration and to support each other in an effort to locate suspicious characters who might have crossed into the country illegally. Because of its new emphasis, Facebook will surface your “meaningful group” to more people. As a leader, you’ll have access to tools that will grow your group. And why wouldn’t you do that? After all, Zuckerberg has said that politicians with the biggest Facebook engagement always win elections.
Getting out of the filter bubble
Of course, many in the U.S. would argue that Facebook has had a detrimental effect on elections by propagating fake news and creating filter bubbles where people only see information that confirms their biases. In his letter, Zuckerberg is still not willing to admit that Facebook did that. But he does say that he’s concerned with offering users “a complete range of perspectives.” Of course, he won’t offer perspectives that are too different.
More: Op-ed: Mark Zuckerberg’s manifesto is a political trainwreck