What was Facebook’s role in the Presidential election?
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/14/technology/facebook-is-said-to-question-its-influence-in-election.html
I am writing this blog post in response to an article titled “Facebook, in Cross Hairs After Election, Is Said to Question Its Influence.” It was written by Mike Isaac and published in the New York Times. After being accused of helping spread misinformation and fake news stories that influenced how the American electorate voted, Facebook has begun questioning its role in the recent Presidential election. Mark Zuckerburg, CEO of Facebook, called the idea of Facebook affecting the election “a pretty crazy idea.” Facebook employees were concerned about the spread of racist and alt-right memes across the network. Some have asked whether Facebook contributed to a “filter bubble” among users who largely interact with people who share the same beliefs.
In class, we have been learning about cascading effects. It would be interesting to know whether these effects played a role in the sharing of fake news related to the presidential election. We have learned that information spreads rapidly in tightly connected groups when information is shared by many nodes to other nodes in the group. These effects could help back up the notion that Facebook is contributing to creating a “filter bubble” among users who largely interact with people who share the same beliefs. Users will be more exposed to information that is shared to them by their friends. This information is more likely to be news that aligns with their beliefs. This also makes individuals more likely to adopt political views that are aligned with those of their friends. This article also relates to our previous discussion of how people link to others who are like them, and in turn can become more similar to them over time
A fake story claiming Pope Francis endorsed the Donald went viral even though Pope Francis is a refugee advocate. Zeynep Tufekci, an associate professor at the University of North Carolina, is certain Facebook had significant influence in the election’s outcome. Mark Zuckerburg claimed in a status update that more than 99% of what people see on Facebook is authentic so it is extremely unlikely that it changed the outcome of the election in one direction or the other.
According to a study by the Pew Research Center, almost half of American adults rely on Facebook as a source of news. This year alone this amount of power has led to some incidents within Facebook. In May employees were accused of censoring some conservative stories and websites in Facebook’s Trending Topics section. After the incident, Facebook laid off the Trending Topics team. Recently, a fake news site spread negative and false messages about Hilary Clinton, including a claim that an F.B.I. agent connected to Mrs. Clinton’s email disclosures had murdered his wife and shot himself. Despite these incidents and accusations of bias, Mark Zuckerburg has continue to challenge the notion that Facebook had a direct effect on the way people voted.