Facebook and Its Problems

An example of a link I did NOT click on.

Some of the Facebook contacts in my demographic--baby boomer, college-educated--post all the time, but most, like me, seem to be infrequent users. (I suspect that we registered initially to snoop check in on our children and grandchildren.) I still log in to view photos of family and friends, especially baby pictures, but I haven't posted anything for many months.

What's become bothersome is the political obsessions of a few. I have friends on both left and right, and, to be clear, I don't mind reading their original opinions and haven't un-friended anyone. But the constant linking to conservative and progressive propaganda is more and more irritating. I get my news from traditional publications, not from advocacy groups.

Wired's 2/12/18 cover

All these concerns and more are covered in the February 12th issue of Wired. The fifth most valuable company (behind Apple, Google/Alphabet, Amazon, and Microsoft) in the world has come under fire from all sides of the political spectrum because of the blatant disinformation that Russian operatives placed, possibly affecting the 2016 elections.

Yet efforts to solve the problem of "fake news" are fraught with obstacles. For example, who decides fact from fiction? Isn't it the mission of Facebook to allow users to disseminate what is interesting to them? If Facebook is not merely a platform but has some responsibility for news content, then doesn't it open itself to liability?

Mark Zuckerberg has many quirks but I get the feeling he's trying to be fair, even to those he vehemently disagrees with. He, along with Donald Trump, are billionaires who I feel a little sorry for, something I could not have imagined saying 20 years ago.