Down in the Well

Welcome

© Joe Casad, Editor in Chief

© Joe Casad, Editor in Chief

Article from Issue 229/2019
Author(s):

For the most popular social media platform in the world, Facebook certainly is taking a lot of heat. In 2016, they were an unwitting vehicle for manipulative ads from foreign powers, echoing and amplifying false narratives in the US presidential election, then later in Brexit and other elections around the globe.

Dear Reader,

For the most popular social media platform in the world, Facebook certainly is taking a lot of heat. In 2016, they were an unwitting vehicle for manipulative ads from foreign powers, echoing and amplifying false narratives in the US presidential election, then later in Brexit and other elections around the globe.

In the 2020 election, Facebook is no longer unwitting, and they have reportedly snapped to action with a detailed ad policy. Have they put this urgent problem to rest? Doesn't look like it so far.

[...]

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    The nature of the print publishing industry demands that I write this column some time before you read it. The first copies go on sale two weeks after our deadline, and, depending on where you live in the world, you could be seeing this issue one month or even two months after these words reach layout. Print publishing lives on because it has many admirable qualities, but low latency is not one of those benefits. This introduction is my graceful way of apologizing that what I'm thinking about now is probably not what you're thinking about when you read this. I'm thinking about the election in the US, which is happening the very day I write this column. You already know who won, and you are happily free from having to think about it, but maybe you should.

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