Techdirt Podcast Episode 99: Debating The Facebook Filter Bubble, With Mathew Ingram
from the bubble-bursting dept
Though the notion of the Facebook "filter bubble" has been around for a while, it's picked up a huge amount of steam following the election of Donald Trump — perhaps just a little too much steam. While Techdirt has long been of the opinion that pointing fingers at Facebook is misguided, there are plenty of people who disagree. This week, we're joined by one such person — long-time media commentator and senior editor at Fortune Mathew Ingram — for a lively debate about just how much of a problem the filter bubble really is, and how you'd go about solving it.
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Filed Under: fake news, filter bubble, politics
Companies: facebook
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I think in a way seeing these things TWICE really validates these insane(?) ideas.
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In my view, Facebook's news feed analogous to the magazine stand of the past. It aggregates and makes available many different news sources with various points of view and levels of trustworthiness. Faux journalism like tabloids have been around for ages, right next to more authoritative news outlets, and usually consumers can discern the difference.
But now imagine the person behind the newsstand subtly curates the titles on the rack based on what _they think_ you might want to read. Of course this would have happened in the past at the newsstand as well - but the old newsstand pandered to its _average reader_, while Facebook panders to the _individual_. That is a fundamental change from the old newsstand, and leads to an over-representation of extreme viewpoints, and a false suppression of contradictory points of view.
Facebook could address this issue by giving its users the power to adjust the news filter algorithm for themselves. Then its users would knowingly and voluntarily choose to live in a bubble - or not.
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The only thing that can be done is to teach the current generation of children critical thinking skills and to make sure they understand the internet is not void of the necessary practice.
This is a consequence to having a stupid public and is a great example on why proper education from birth on up is needed for a free society to function correctly.
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