<
https://theconversation.com/the-dynamics-that-polarise-us-on-social-media-are-about-to-get-worse-247027>
"Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has announced big changes in how the
company addresses misinformation across Facebook, Instagram and Threads.
Instead of relying on independent third-party factcheckers, Meta will now
emulate Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter) in using “community notes”. These
crowdsourced contributions allow users to flag content they believe is
questionable.
Zuckerberg claimed these changes promote “free expression”. But some experts
worry he’s bowing to right-wing political pressure, and will effectively allow
a deluge of hate speech and lies to spread on Meta platforms.
Research on the group dynamics of social media suggests those experts have a
point.
At first glance, community notes might seem democratic, reflecting values of
free speech and collective decisions. Crowdsourced systems such as Wikipedia,
Metaculus and PredictIt, though imperfect, often succeed at harnessing the
wisdom of crowds — where the collective judgement of many can sometimes
outperform even experts.
Research shows that diverse groups that pool independent judgements and
estimates can be surprisingly effective at discerning the truth. However, wise
crowds seldom have to contend with social media algorithms.
Many people rely on platforms such as Facebook for their news, risking exposure
to misinformation and biased sources. Relying on social media users to police
information accuracy could further polarise platforms and amplify extreme
voices.
Two group-based tendencies — our psychological need to sort ourselves and
others into groups — are of particular concern: in-group/out-group bias and
acrophily (love of extremes)."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
