The Ministry of Truth Comes Alive: Facebook Going Beyond “Censoring”
By Aaron Kesel | Activist Post
Facebook is currently testing a change that would force news publishers to pay to show their posts from their Facebook Pages in the timeline of Facebook users in an effort disguised to fight “fake news.”
In the test, pages are now shown in a separate Explore tab, while the main timeline only shows posts from friends, ads, and posts that companies have paid to promote, Business Insider reported.
If the change goes global, other businesses may be affected as well. Essentially what Facebook is trying to do is have users who want to use its “Business Profiles” be charged for promoting their content. Additionally, the “upgrade” would affect public figures and other organizations which have a Facebook page such as local kids’ sports teams, high school pages, or nonprofit charities.
Posts from friends who post a news article are not affected by the change, it is strictly “Business Profiles.”
Before the “fake news” debacle, Facebook was censoring users and their speech on its platform; the social media giant even went as far as to suspend the account of Russia Today, Moscow’s English news outlet, before President Donald Trump’s inauguration.
The test is currently active for people in six countries: Sri Lanka, Bolivia, Slovakia, Serbia, Guatemala, and Cambodia with no plans to roll out globally, according to a spokesperson who spoke with Business Insider.
