Facebook is tilting the political playing field more than ever, and it’s no accident
Ahead of the US’ election day, Monash University’s Michael Brand examines Facebook’s political influence in this crossposting from The Conversation.
As the US presidential election polling day draws close, it’s worth recapping what we know about how Facebook has been used to influence election results.
The platform is optimised for boosting politically conservative voices calling for fascism, separatism and xenophobia. It’s also these voices that tend to generate the most clicks.
In recent years, Facebook has on several occasions been made to choose between keeping to its community standards or taking a path that avoids the ire of conservatives. Too many times, it has chosen the latter.
