Facebook’s most popular Christian pages run by troll farms
Sept 29, 2021 23:56:30 GMT
t2x likes this
Post by Deleted on Sept 29, 2021 23:56:30 GMT
I read this article this morning:
Facebook’s most popular pages for Christian and Black American content were being run by Eastern European troll farms
www.technologyreview.com/2021/09/16/1035851/facebook-troll-farms-report-us-2020-election/
Key points:
The report reveals the alarming state of affairs in which Facebook leadership left the platform for years, despite repeated public promises to aggressively tackle foreign-based election interference. MIT Technology Review is making the full report available, with employee names redacted, because it is in the public interest.
Its revelations include:
As of October 2019, around 15,000 Facebook pages with a majority US audience were being run out of Kosovo and Macedonia, known bad actors during the 2016 election.
As a result, in October 2019, all 15 of the top pages targeting Christian Americans, 10 of the top 15 Facebook pages targeting Black Americans, and four of the top 12 Facebook pages targeting Native Americans were being run by troll farms.
For the most part, the people who run troll farms have financial rather than political motives; they post whatever receives the most engagement, with little regard to the actual content. But because misinformation, clickbait, and politically divisive content is more likely to receive high engagement (as Facebook’s own internal analyses acknowledge), troll farms gravitate to posting more of it over time, the report says.
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And if you're not American (like me), then this still applies:
Troll farms primarily affect the US but also target the UK, Australia, India, and Central and South American countries.
The article provides lists on the top Facebook pages that are run by Troll farms or not.
I guess as an action step, feel free to block and let others in your sphere know to block those pages.
LINK: How do I block or unblock a Facebook Page?
Facebook’s most popular pages for Christian and Black American content were being run by Eastern European troll farms
www.technologyreview.com/2021/09/16/1035851/facebook-troll-farms-report-us-2020-election/
Key points:
The report reveals the alarming state of affairs in which Facebook leadership left the platform for years, despite repeated public promises to aggressively tackle foreign-based election interference. MIT Technology Review is making the full report available, with employee names redacted, because it is in the public interest.
Its revelations include:
As of October 2019, around 15,000 Facebook pages with a majority US audience were being run out of Kosovo and Macedonia, known bad actors during the 2016 election.
As a result, in October 2019, all 15 of the top pages targeting Christian Americans, 10 of the top 15 Facebook pages targeting Black Americans, and four of the top 12 Facebook pages targeting Native Americans were being run by troll farms.
For the most part, the people who run troll farms have financial rather than political motives; they post whatever receives the most engagement, with little regard to the actual content. But because misinformation, clickbait, and politically divisive content is more likely to receive high engagement (as Facebook’s own internal analyses acknowledge), troll farms gravitate to posting more of it over time, the report says.
----
And if you're not American (like me), then this still applies:
Troll farms primarily affect the US but also target the UK, Australia, India, and Central and South American countries.
The article provides lists on the top Facebook pages that are run by Troll farms or not.
I guess as an action step, feel free to block and let others in your sphere know to block those pages.
LINK: How do I block or unblock a Facebook Page?