Facebook and emerging media's misinformation responsibilities

Facebook and other emerging media collect and store private data from multiple millions of daily users which has been frequently stolen or purchased by bad actors across its lifetime. Meanwhile Facebook as a company has repeatedly shown its interests in profitability greatly overwhelm the known harm its algorithm produces across its customers, prioritizing engagement over stopping the spread of misinformation while shunting traffic towards users who abuse this algorithm’s flaws for political gain. Stated efforts within Facebook’s leadership to remain objective and avoid pandering to any specific political group mean allowing misinformation to flourish within groups across social media so as not to disproportionately affect one political party’s online engagement values. Facebook claims to be objective and uses tools to put validity disclaimers on information shared only after massive public backlash. However, distributing content by algorithm through sorting and ranking editorializes materials presented based on users’ histories and internal Facebook control. With those editorial tools only occasionally used and the power Facebook has to influence nations, these companies should be held accountable for the dangerous misinformation and intentional disinformation pushed by bad actors on their sites. With over 1 million COVID-19 FACEBOOK AND MISINFORMATION RESPONSIBILITIES 1 fatalities and another 1 million in excess deaths which could be linked to underreporting or treatment prevention in the United States alone, weaponizing misinformation about public health for political purposes must be actively confronted through thorough fact-checking and public declarations of news information falsehoods when applicable, especially when developed through illegally gained private user data (CDC, 2022).Thesis (M.A.