“Facebook can't be down, can it?”, we thought, for a second.
Today at 1651 UTC, we opened an internal incident entitled "Facebook DNS lookup returning SERVFAIL" because we were worried that something was wrong with our DNS resolver 1.1.1.1. ?But as we were about to post on our public status page we realized something else more serious was going on
7/13/21 by NPR
Web player: https://podcastaddict.com/episode/125718595
Episode: https://play.podtrac.com/npr-381444908/edge1.pod.npr.org/anon.npr-mp3/npr/fa/2021/07/20210713_fa_fapodtues.mp3
In their new book, ‘New York Times’ reporters Cecilia Kang and Sheera Frenkel examine the problems Facebook created and the problems it’s facing. We talk about disinformation, hate speech, and how CEO Mark Zuckerberg knew the “Stop the Steal” private groups were planning a riot on the capitol but decided against warning the president. “Facebook knew the potential for explosive violence was very real [on Jan 6],” Kang says.
But that story shifted on Tuesday after federal health officials recommended a temporary halt in the use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, after a handful of reports about blood clots surfaced among the millions of people who have received the shot.
Many doctors argue this sort of delay should actually be seen as a positive for vaccine safety: officials are paying close attention to the reports of side effects and acting quickly to maintain public confidence in the vaccination effort.
But experts who follow internet trends are bracing for the worst when it comes to how this news is understood and received by the public.
"This is what I would call the perfect storm for misinformation," said Jennifer Granston at Zignal Labs, a media intelligence platform.
Facebook is making changes to give users more choice over what posts they see in their news feeds, as the social media company defends itself from accusations that it fuels extremism and political polarization.
The changes, announced Wednesday, include making it easier for people to switch their feeds to a "Most Recent" mode, where the newest posts appear first, and allowing users to pick up to 30 friends or pages to prioritize. Users can now limit who can comment on their posts.
Garland is not alone. An NPR/Ipsos poll in December found that a significant number of Americans believe disinformation about the coronavirus and about settled historical facts. The findings underscore the enduring nature of unfounded conspiracies at a time when experts say disinformation is being spread on an unprecedented scale.
"There is certainly a bloc of people who are willing to believe conspiracies sort of across the board," says Chris Jackson, a pollster at Ipsos, "even if it doesn't have any basis in reality or fact."