"It's hard to visit Facebook without seeing phony headlines like "FBI Agent Suspected in Hillary Email Leaks Found Dead in Apparent Murder-Suicide" or "Pope Francis Shocks World, Endorses Donald Trump for President, Releases Statement" promoted by no-name news sites like the Denver Guardian and Ending The Fed."
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You might find it odd that I would be speaking favorably of Zuckerberg and Facebook right here, since I am presently restricted from all group postings as I right this, until November 24. I have no idea whether it was a person or a robot or posting-counter-app that axed me, but it was done without warning, not even one of those CAPCHA tests to reiterate some letters and numbers in a jumble, to ostensibly prove that you aren't another kind of spam robot. But I am not an angry nor vindictive person, and so freely object to most the hostile criticism of Zuckerberg and Facebook, except some of my own criticism based on daunting personal experience and trying to figure out to get the word out on something important, when I am periodically restricted from posting to the very group that I created!
Many in the Bernie campaign have had similar experiences, and we called it Facebook Jail. What rules were broken? I have no idea. Nothing is spelled out in writing about numbers or frequency of posts. It is all a gray area to me, with absolutely nothing clear, and no response after I several times Fedexed letters to the Board of Directors, the corporate attorney and VP, the President, et. al., at Facebook down there in San Mateo on 1 Hacker Way. Responses? Zero! Clarifications? Absolutely none.
I nonetheless categorically object to calling Zuckerberg "spineless." He is a young man with a gargantuan corporate structure that has grown so quickly that parts of it may in fact be out of control. I trust his instincts and his intentions in keeping Facebook always free and open.
If there are those who would abuse that, then THEY should be the ones who are criticized and faulted. They should be banned permanently, and all of us users should be collectively quite zealous and serious as they examine new information.
I have been chumped several times myself in disseminating incorrect news items, one ostensibly from ABC News but in fact created for the amusement of a real joker. I have always been very quick to not only delete them but clearly apologize for the error.
In the coming years, with potential privatization of national forests for corporate exploitation like copper mining in the Tonto National Forest at Oak Flat, sacred to the San Carlos Apaches, we have to be really vigilant and as well use social media to get the real truth out.
I was able through Facebook, spread my article about the Dakota Area Pipeline to hundreds of thousand who read it, and it consequently, this article became the #1 page view article in the 12 year history of OpEdNews, with 186,000 page views, a distinction I must thank Zuckerberg and Facebook for, along with of course the brave defenders of the Standing Rock Reservation. This was the article:
NYC Council "STANDS UNITED" WITH N.DAKOTA PROTESTERS, 2 new videos of police using pepper spray and rubber bullets
This heretofore unprecedented level of vast public knowledge, protests, and outcry would not be possible without Facebook groups. Speaking as an old pacifist who drove hundreds of miles from Los Angeles to San Francisco to be in marches against the Vietnam War, I have a warranted intrinsic distrust of the mainstream media, which has become increasingly irrelevant while Facebook becomes increasingly relevant.
Could the GOP and the Trump supporters resent that kind of media power? Of course! Could they spread nasty stories about the so-called "spineless" founder of Facebook to weaken the reader-driven credibility of Facebook? Of course they could and are perhaps doing exactly that.
This is what Facebook had to say most recently:
We did not build and withhold any News Feed changes based on their potential impact on any one political party. We always work to make News Feed more meaningful and informative, and that includes examining the quality and accuracy of items shared, such as clickbait, spam and hoaxes.
Mark himself said, "I want to do everything I can to make sure our teams uphold the integrity of our products."
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
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