The Facebook Dilemma Essay

The Negative Impact of Facebook: A Reflection on "The Facebook Dilemma"

I support the argument presented by the documentary The Facebook Dilemma. Various people who presented their ideas concerning the roles which are played by Facebook were true according to the last three years. The documentary shows that social media platforms especially Facebook were created with the aim of joining people around the world but in the recent years, the network has increased tribalism, hate, racism, political injustices and insecurity among other evils in the society. For instance, Naomi Gleit, Facebook VP of Social Good accepts that the company has failed in some part. She stated, "We have been slow to really understand ways in which Facebook might be used for bad things." Therefore, the statements from the Facebook insiders clearly proof that some people have been using Facebook in the wrong way. Politicians and senior government officials in various countries have been linked to the usage of Facebook to spread propaganda. For example, some Russians have been linked the use of Facebook to fight the external opposition of President Putin. Rand Waltzman, the Program Manager, DARPA, 2010-2015 stated, "It will be pretty easy to set a fake account, there are a large number of fake accounts embedded to different communities and use them to disseminate propaganda." Thus, it is clear that Facebook's high level of fake accounts increases the spread of propaganda and false information.

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Facebook's Failure to Ensure User Safety and Privacy

According to the documentary, Facebook has failed in the implementation of strategies that could ensure that the users are safe and there is privacy for the data that they have uploaded for Facebook purposes. Additionally, the documentary presents that the news that is passed through the platform are not accurate. The management of Facebook has accepted this problem has been a major challenge to them. Zuckerberg stated that they do not have editors for the news presented in the platform. He said, "We are a technology company but not a media company." The statement shows that Facebook has been unable to control the types of news that are passed through the platform where some may be fake. The 2016 USA election is among the main events that were affected by the spread of fake news. Buzzfeed's Craig Silverman gave an alarm that there was a massive spread of fake news trying to favor or ruing the reputation of different politicians who were contending for the top position in the country. Crag states, "If you are not legitimate, all you need is to set up a website and ensure links into and serve on Facebook." The reporter also located a town in Macedonia where some individuals could use Facebook to spread fake information concerning Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton which could either increase the positive or negative popularity.

Conclusion

The documentary also presented arguments that Facebook has been used to spread religious, political, and racial hatred among others. For instance, during the 2016 presidential campaigns, videos of the presidential candidates were edited to include stupid words in the speeches of the leaders. Additionally, some messages and images were created to show the bad side of the campaigners. Roger McNamee an early Facebook investor stated, "Things like fear and anger to create greater engagement and in the context of Facebook, more time outside, more sharing and therefore more advertising value. I found that incredibly disturbing." McNamee stated that the company should know that it has more impact than even the news and hence check the impact of the message passed. Therefore, Facebook needs to come up with strategies that could increase and maintain its primary objective of uniting people.