Social Media – Page 5 – Family Council

Meta Will Stop “Fact-Checking” on Facebook, Instagram

Jan 8, 2025Jerry CoxSocial MediaBig Tech, Facebook, Social Media

On Tuesday, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the social media company would stop “fact-checking” on Facebook and Instagram.

Meta introduced “fact-checking” several years ago as a way to combat lies and misinformation online. However, Facebook fact-checkers have been accused of censoring unpopular opinions and squelching legitimate speech. For example, last year, Zuckerberg wrote a letter to the U.S. House Judiciary Committee saying the Biden Administration “pressured” his teams to censor content related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a video posted Tuesday, Zuckerberg said, “We’ve reached a point where it’s just too many mistakes and too much censorship. . . . The fact-checkers have just been too politically biased and have destroyed more trust than they’ve created.”

Zuckerberg said Facebook would replace “fact-checking” with a community notes system similar to X’s that would let users flag content that may be inappropriate or misleading.

Zuckerberg also said the social media platforms would eliminate restrictions on topics such as immigration and gender “that are just out of touch with mainstream discourse.”

Facebook’s decision to eliminate “fact-checking” sounds like a step in the right direction. In 2021 Facebook disabled Family Council’s advertising account with virtually no notice or explanation.

From time to time we use our Facebook ad account to advertise the stories and videos that we share on social media to make sure that people see them.

Facebook’s cancellation email indicated that we had violated its Unacceptable Business Practices Policy, but did not say exactly what we did wrong. We could not find anything on our Facebook page that ran afoul of that policy.

We appealed Facebook’s decision to cancel our advertising account. After a few days, Facebook sent us another terse email saying our advertising account had been reinstated.

We asked Facebook for an explanation outlining why our account had been disabled in the first place. But we never received any more information. To this day, we aren’t sure what we did that Facebook felt ran afoul of their advertising standards. But coincidentally, Facebook’s cancellation email arrived shortly after we tried to pay to promote a video about about inappropriate material at the Jonesboro Public Library. We’ve always assumed that video had something do with Facebook suspending our advertising account.

Facebook may be taking a step in the right direction, but tech companies still seem to have virtually no accountability when it comes to promoting or suppressing free speech. With that in mind, it’s important for Christians not to depend solely on social media for news and information.

That’s why we encourage all of our friends and supporters to join our mailing list. We send regular update letters and emails filled with information about current events in Arkansas. It’s completely free to sign up.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

Family Council Joins Amicus Brief Against Chinese-Backed TikTok

Dec 31, 2024Jerry CoxSocial MediaSocial Media, TikTok

On Friday Family Council joined an amicus brief in federal court against social media giant TikTok.

With approximately a billion users worldwide — including an estimated 135 – 170 million in the U.S. — TikTok arguably is one of the most popular social media platforms on the planet. Its Chinese-based parent company, ByteDance, has been valued at $300 billion.

However, TikTok has come under fire for struggling to protect private user data from entities in China — including the Chinese Communist Party — and it has been accused of serving users a steady “diet of darkness” online. TikTok also has been accused of violating federal laws intended to protect children.

In April, President Biden signed a bipartisan piece of legislation requiring TikTok to cut ties with China by January 19, 2025. If it fails to do so, the law would ban TikTok in the United States.

In response, TikTok sued the federal government, and the case has made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

On Friday, Family Council joined three dozen other leaders and organizations in an amicus brief filed by Advancing American Freedom. The brief argues that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) does not respect free speech in China or in America, and that the First Amendment should not give foreign adversaries like the CCP an open door to influence tens of millions of Americans.

As we keep saying, social media is more than just websites or phone apps. These are multibillion dollar businesses owned and operated by investors and other interests. If the Chinese Communist Party can influence TikTok, the CCP may be able to manipulate users or harvest sensitive data on one of the world’s largest social media platforms. That ought to concern everyone.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

Appeals Court Says U.S. Can Ban Chinese-Backed TikTok

Dec 10, 2024Jerry CoxSocial MediaSocial Media, TikTok

The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that a federal appeals court ruled the U.S. can ban TikTok if the social media giant fails to cut ties with China. The ruling upholds a federal law congress enacted over national security concerns.

With approximately one billion users worldwide — including upwards of 135 million or more in the U.S. — TikTok arguably is one of the most popular social media platforms on the planet. Its Chinese-based parent company, ByteDance, has been valued at $300 billion.

Despite being a popular, multibillion-dollar corporation, it seems TikTok has failed to overcome some very serious failures. The platform has struggled to protect private user data from entities in China — including the Chinese Communist Party — and it has been accused of serving users a steady “diet of darkness” online.

Earlier this year the U.S. Department of Justice actually sued TikTok for allegedly violating federal laws intended to protect children online, and Canadian authorities recently ordered TikTok to stop operating in their country, citing national security concerns.

Elected leaders from Arkansas have expressed their concerns about how China might manipulate TikTok.

As U.S. Congressman Bruce Westerman pointed out last March,

Although TikTok executives claim that it does not share any data collected by the app, there are several Chinese laws in place that provide CCP [Chinese Communist Party] officials access to all user data collected by Chinese-owned tech companies, like TikTok. This means the CCP has access to sensitive data, like the location of every TikTok user worldwide, including the over 210 million Americans who have downloaded the app.

In 2022, U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security, saying in part,

TikTok captures vast amounts of private information on users, including American citizens, and has long been suspected of providing the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] with potential access to that information. This threatens the safety and security of American citizens, and also functions as an avenue for the Chinese government to track the locations of and develop blackmail on Federal employees and contractors.

Last year Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin filed two lawsuits against TikTok and its parent company ByteDance.

The A.G.’s lawsuits allege that TikTok and ByteDance failed to fully disclose that the company is subject to Chinese laws that mandate cooperation with intelligence activities of the People’s Republic of China and that TikTok aggressively collects sensitive user data. The lawsuits are ongoing in state court.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.