Today, The Wall Street Journal posted leaked reports from Facebook after it boosted “meaningful social interactions” on the platform. While Facebook framed the move as helping friends connect, internal reports said it had “unhealthy side effects on important slices of public content, such as politics and news,” calling these effects an “increasing liability.”
Today’s report delves into the fallout of a 2018 decision to prioritize posts with lots of comments and reactions. Facebook allegedly made the change after noticing that comments, likes, and reshares had declined throughout 2017.
The issue that many people have with Facebook, apart from selling access to personal and usage information, is the tweaking of algorithms to favour Facebook’s business interests. It’s probably why so many people who left Facebook have rather opted for networks with straight chronological algorithms which show only the profiles they are following.
See Political parties told Facebook its News Feed pushed them into ‘more extreme positions’
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Parties worried about "long-term effects on democracy."