Among 70 million Facebook groups and pages, scores of them have something to do with Nebraska: Nebraska Bohemians, Nebraska History, Nebraska Girl Gang, I Grew Up in Nebraska, Mamas of Nebraska and many more, including Unicameral Update via the Clerk of the Legislature’s Unicameral Information Office.

All of which made for intriguing timing when Nebraska’s 109th Legislature convened the same day Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg announced that his Facebook would no longer fact check posts. Rather, it will rely on “community notes,” where other online users can add context or call out horse hockey, a so-so strategy already employed on Twitter-now-X.

I could be reading this all wrong, but it seems Zuckerberg is saying that what is factual or true or trusted information in Facebook posts will now be determined by the same enormous pool of users, some of whom also post and pass on conspiracy theories, the rankest of rumors and a spectrum of lies: bald-faced, straight-up, damned, white, pathological, compulsive, out-and-out, of commission, of omission, paltering and everyone’s favorite: just making stuff up.

Dubious Relationship With Facts

Let’s not cast aspersions toward any particular Facebook user or group, as I’m sure honest posters are the vast majority among the 3 billion plus accounts. Nor should we assume the Nebraska Legislature or its clerk will now be pumping out a firehose of fibs.

What we can surmise from Zuckerberg’s policy change — ostensibly to appease a new administration, which already enjoys a dubious relationship with the facts — is that Meta has co-signed the notion that the truth just isn’t that important.

The social media giant is not alone in downplaying the corrosive effects of disinformation or misinformation, if you prefer — the differences subtle, the effects similar. Research reported in the June, 2024 issue of Nature questioned how much exposure to disinformation actually happens and how much of it truly causes problems.

One part of the data indicated that only 4% of Americans viewed websites designed to deceive its viewers prior to the 2024 election. Nevertheless, the researchers’ concluded that platforms — I’m looking at you Facebook — should increase their efforts to ferret out the false and support the study of online propaganda and its proliferation and consequences.

None of which pooh-poohs disinformation’s effect, only that we have some numbers and need more. And, while we’re compiling them, social media firms need to step up rather than recede into the background. Zuckerberg’s announcement will affect Facebook groups from Nebraska to Nambia, but my sense of the debate is that if you’re arguing that concerns about disinformation in our lives are overblown, you might be, well, misinformed.

Misinformation, Disinformation Rampant

Chances are also good you’ve encountered disinformation, because the distemper of the fake and the false and the fabricated is everywhere.

Three samples: While my former Los Angeles stomping grounds were in flames, disinformation from poorly-informed politicians to wackos with AI-generated photos spread like noxious fumes. Fire officials there described a “perfect storm” of events, including 80 mph Santa Ana winds that simply overwhelmed systems and resources.

Still, while many news outlets provided courageous coverage in showing the apocalyptic consequences of the fires, many failed to mention climate change as a force in the cataclysm that stretched from the Pacific Ocean east to the San Gabriel Mountains.

The recent general election turned on an economy that was booming but seen as otherwise by voters — a messaging issue perhaps as much as fake news. But don’t underestimate the power of disinformation in a campaign, which included lies about pet-eating immigrants and hurricane relief in North Carolina, plus a bogus photo of the vice-president in a swimsuit hugging sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Today’s garbage dump of disinformation is pungent, deep and wide.

Closer to home, online rumors of voter fraud in the 2000 and 2022 elections helped fuel a Sarpy County investigation, which cost taxpayers $88,000. While no bogeymen were found, and it never hurts to reassess voting systems, the Big Lie had long coattails in fostering local investigations that found little or no wrongdoing and lawsuits that were summarily dismissed.

We could go on and on.

At one point in our history, we trusted, searched for and respected the truth. We gave it an esteemed place in society. We embraced science and scientists, and we acted on the results of their research. Journalism was practiced by professionals who adhered to a process that included editors, too often a crucial missing link in today’s information systems. We even trusted institutions because we saw their cohesive effect on society.

Nobody called it fact checking. It simply was true.

This story was published by Nebraska Examiner, an editorially independent newsroom providing a hard-hitting, daily flow of news. Read the original article: https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2025/01/20/facebook-decision-disrespects-truths-place-in-society/

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