[neves]

Well, these unnamed "tech companies" are responsible for the proliferation of absurd lies that will elect a far right authoritarian candidate in my country, Brazil. The spread of this lies happens with the support of a well financed organization.

I always thought that the Internet would be a democratic platform that would improve the debate in society. Maybe we would go back to a democracy without intermediaries.

I was wrong.

We are entering a dystopian world where the profits of a handful of companies are more important than the rest of society.

[tedunangst]

Modest proposal: The government should appoint a Department of Truth to review and approve all social media posts in a country to eliminate election misinformation.

[soule]

Minitrue!

[ethanwillis]

What's really depressing is that I can't tell if you're joking or not.

[Arubis]

(s)he's joking, but the only reason I'm sure is the use of "modest proposal", not the actual content.

[Grue3]

>Well, these unnamed "tech companies" are responsible for the proliferation of absurd lies that will elect a far right authoritarian candidate in my country, Brazil.

There was no reason why the opposition to that candidate couldn't have put up their own absurd lies, or, dare I say, disproved the far right candidate's lies, thereby achieving the same success via the same platform. The elections are all about effective campaigning. You can't blame the platform because the candidate you don't like is too effective at using it. Instead learn from your mistakes and use this platform to be just as effective.

[neves]

No, anyone of a minimal of ethics and responsibility can't spread these kind of lies.

Then they spend all the time refuting absurd lies instead of explaining their proposals.

[Nasrudith]

That is a strange definition of responsibility - the voters aren't responsible? They lack agency completely? The propagandists who would and have used other means like newspapers, radio broadcasts and even just whispered malicious rumors? They completely lack agency as well?

Tech is just the easy scapegoat for society.

[halfnibble]

I just read an article today about a named tech company banning marketing accounts associated with said far-right candidate. But I don't think that will stop him from a landslide win. The knife was the opposition's best hope.

[neves]

It was too late and hardly made a dent in their fake news network.

One of the blocked accounts were of the son of the candidate.

[aeternus]

What should these tech companies have done to prevent this?

[neves]

This NYT article https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/17/opinion/brazil-election-f... has some tips:

- limit the amount of persons in a group

- limit the amount of people you can forward a message

- Restrict broadcasts