Guest essay by Eric Worrall
Climate activists are furious that Facebook’s new misinformation algorithm backfired and banned all their friends.
Facebook suspends environmental groups despite vow to fight misinformation
Facebook blames mistake in system for restrictions on groups including Greenpeace USA
Oliver Milman@olliemilman
Tue 22 Sep 2020 17.30 AESTFacebook has suspended the accounts of several environmental organizations less than a week after launching an initiative it said would counter a tide of misinformation over climate science on the platform.
Groups such as Greenpeace USA, Climate Hawks Vote and Rainforest Action Network were among those blocked from posting or sending messages on Facebook over the weekend. Activists say hundreds of other individual accounts linked to indigenous, climate and social justice groups were also suspended for an alleged “intellectual property rights violation”.
The suspended people and groups were all involved in a Facebook event from May last year that targeted KKR & Co, a US investment firm that is backing the Coastal GasLink pipeline, a 670km-long gas development being built in northern British Columbia, Canada.
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Many of the accounts have now been restored, but a handful are still blocked, with no fuller explanation coming from Facebook.
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The suspensions came just a few days after the social media giant said it was launching a “climate science information center” to counter widely shared but misleading posts that reject the established science of the climate crisis.
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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/sep/22/facebook-climate-change-environment-groups-suspended
Clearly Facebook needs to add special exceptions to their climate misinformation algorithm, to prevent their system from accidentally blocking climate activists.
Google may have encountered a similar problem in 2017, when they apparently discovered applying an objective truth algorithm to climate studies frequently produced answers which did not align with the prejudices of google management.
Update (EW): Added a link to the 2017 post which described Google’s mishap with objective truth.
They did the right thing.
I’ve been reading a lot of stuff about how the AI algorithms have begun to focus themselves on generating clicks and revenue. It looks like Greenpeace is a has been. Nobody cares.
Racism is a hot topic because it generates strong emotions and lots of clicks. Maybe they should look for examples of Systemic Racism in the AI algorithms? Seems to be a bunch of it in there and that gets people going more than anything on the ground.
That is so funny. That’s a fact. Thanks for sharing.
Facebook probably does climate papers peer review as well as the established magazines do though.
“Facebook blames mistake in system for restrictions on groups including Greenpeace USA.” They should fire the coders for not testing first. You can not have software running willy-nilly.
The idea of a bureaucracy is to eliminate human foibles such that everyone is treated the same way. It doesn’t matter if you are green or purple or Orthodox or Tetrahedron, you will be treated the same way because the rules are rigidly enforced. The left thinks all we need are more laws and everything will be fine. What could possibly go wrong?
The problem is that it is impossible to write infallibly good rules. There are always unforeseen consequences. Also, clever people will find ways to game the rules. Google knows that and that’s why it keeps its ranking algorithms secret.
To Facebook, I say, there are some warnings you won’t heed until you actually step in the doggie doo.
Why the need for control, whether in the sense of “management weighing in on the facts”, or outright blocking/censoring people? Clearly Facebook’s goal, once they get it figured out, is to give groups like Greenpeace the edge over everyone else.
So what could be a joke is anything but funny, unfortunately.
It sounds like it worked perfectly. Not that I would ever be so shallow as to support censorship, but pretty funny when it backfires and actually tells the real truth.
Attention Facebook programmers and IT specialists: you should study up on this thing called “the law of unintended consequences.”
It will help you in the future.
BTW, referencing the last sentence in the above boxed excerpts by Oliver Milman, there is no such thing as the “established science of the climate crisis”. The science behind “climate change” claims is not settled nor has it reached “consensus” status, let alone being established beyond a reasonable doubt.
Knowing this difference will also help you in the future.
Will Facebook include evidence compiled in Climate Change Reconsidered?
http://climatechangereconsidered.org/
It didn’t backfire…it just worked. This is like a babylon bee article.
So what is climate change misinformation and who decides?
Sounds as if it works perfectly.
I wonder if Facebook also blocked the climate reporting of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Welcome to social media being used for political purposes. Once the Marxist understood their investment in MSM was jeopardized by the internet they looked to more fertile means of spreading their ideology. And found it.
“Established science”! Ha ha. When is science established?
Can’t believe people still use FB, they’re just asking for trouble.
They finally have an objective alogorithm then they are tweaking it again. You just can’t make these things up.
So this is all about the message.
It’s terrible when the truth comes and bites you in the derriere!
James Bull
Greenpeace have by lying about the environment for a very long time. Their business model depends on lies. They spend much of their income fund-raising, to gain more supporters, so they have more subscriptions, so more money. They lie to supporters to con them into subscribing.
Who is the establishment that has established the science?
It is so easy to run with your fellow sheep, ignoring the possibility that the leaders are wolfs in sheep clothes. – Baaah
Many or even most carrier politicians and Markxist Zuckermountains shamefully hide behind the conveniently anonymous word established, which reveals no responsible sources anyone can object to.
Groups such as Greenpeace USA, Climate Hawks Vote and Rainforest Action Network were among those blocked from posting or sending messages on Facebook over the weekend…. just a few days after the social media giant said it was launching a “climate science information center” to counter widely shared but misleading posts
Wow, for once Facebook came up with an algorithm that actually works. So what do they do?
Many of the accounts have now been restored,
guess all misinformation is equal but some misinformation is more equal than others. (with all due respect to George Orwell)
Haha some fun with the coffee thx!
It’s very much like the old saying, the reason people don’t leave Christianity is because they don’t read the bible. Or put another way, if you want to find the truth about Christianity, just diligently follow what it says to do.