Facebook won’t remove fake viral video, users urge account deactivation

Many Twitter users are boycotting Facebook after a fake video of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi went viral earlier in the week.

There is a hashtag #DeleteFacebook that has been trending nationwide on Twitter after the incident.

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The clip in question is slowed down and edited to make it seem as though Pelosi is slurring her words and intoxicated at an event in Washington. The video is spreading misinformation about the politician, yet Facebook has refused to remove it. YouTube has removed the video from their platform.

The specific clip was posted to conservative page Politics WatchDog. It has garnered more than 2.6 million views, 46,000 shares and 28,000 comments.

The video was flagged by The Washington Post, but the group that posted the clip accused the publication of being “fake news.”

Independent fact checkers that Facebook users are pro-liberal and funded by the left. We’re not a conservative news page but since the fake news Washington Post tagged us as such it made it easy for this independent fact checker to come after us,” they wrote in response.

Facebook policy is that the post will not be removed, but it will not be promoted.

“We want to help people stay informed without stifiling productive public discourse,” their policy states. “There is also a fine line between false news and satire or opinion. For these reasons, we don’t remove false news from Facebook but instead, significantly reduce its distribution by showing it lower in the News Feed.”

You can see a few examples of people hating on Facebook’s stance with the #DeleteFacebook tag below.

After the backlash, Facebook’s head of global policy management Monika Bickert appeared on Anderson Cooper 360 to explain the decision. Cooper vehemently disagreed with the move and asked several questions about the decision.

“We aren’t in the news business, we’re in the social media business,” she said.

You can see the full clip of her appearance on the show below.

 

More Facebook news

Buying tickets through certain sites is a hassle with all of the extra charges they add on to the ticket price.

Facebook is aiming to stake out their own room in the ticket-selling industry now though with the launch of sales through their events.

The service is being backed by Eventbrite which helped bring concert attendee’s concerns to the forefront of paying for shows.

The rollout for the new service started yesterday and will only initially be available in the U.S. Options will include paid and free tickets with Eventbrite and Facebook collecting a portion of each ticket sold. This will look a little different from the Ticketmaster fees you’re used to seeing as their income will be a percentage of the total ticket cost.

The social media giant isn’t forcing people to offer tickets through the platform though. Events such as house parties and smaller get-togethers will still be able to continue in the same way they did before, but larger events are likely to use this new option.

“700 million people use Facebook events each month, and partnering on this initiative is our effort to better serve the people responsible for bringing those events and gatherings to life—including small businesses and entrepreneurs whose core business is not throwing events,” Pat Poels, Senior Vice President Of Platform at Eventbrite, explains.

According to Eventbrite, event listings will show up on both Facebook and their own site depending on visibility settings.

This could prove a huge advantage for Facebook as the ticket-selling functionality strengthens their already established events platform. It could also be a way to keep current users from leaving their platform.

In other news, it looks like Facebook is now pulling double duty as both social media platform and potential matchmaker. While it won’t be available in the U.S. until later this year, the Facebook Dating feature titled “Secret Crush” is just as creepy as it sounds—especially considering the number of privacy issues the social media platform has endured already.

Think of it as Tinder meets Facebook, except you’re picking specific friends you want to date.

Because those unsolicited Facebook messages weren’t creepy enough.

Facebook recently announced they would be rolling out the feature as part of their larger, opt-in Facebook Dating option.

“Secret Crush” aims at connecting Facebook friends who may not be aware that they’re mutually interested in one another.

According to Wired, users will be able to select up to nine friends they want to express interest in.

If someone adds you to their “Secret Crush” list you’ll get a notification saying “A friend added you as a secret crush.” Then, if you pick the same person for your list, Facebook will play matchmaker and reveal your names.

If the “Secret Crush” is one-sided, the identity will remain anonymous.

According to The Verge, you’ll be able to add any Facebook friend as a “Secret Crush” even if they have not created a dating profile.

This is the part where you wrack your brain trying to figure out who the hell it is that has this crush on you.

It’s pretty obvious that there are a few ways this feature could go terribly wrong. For one, it’s an easy way to prank people with false pretenses. Plus, there’s no telling what could come of all that extra info you’re giving up to Facebook.

However, the social media giant claims it won’t use content from Facebook Dating or “Secret Crush” for advertising purposes.

“All activity that occurs in FB Dating stays in FB Dating and will not be shared externally,” a Facebook spokesperson tells Wired in an email.

What do you think of the #DeleteFacebook movement? Sound off in the comments below!

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