Facebook and the end of digital democracy?
Women inside the gate of the city polling station, voting for the first time in a Queensland state election, May 1907 by State Library of Queensland, Australia
License (according to Flickr): No known copyright restrictions
License (according to Flickr): No known copyright restrictions
(CNN) -- Unless Facebook users fight back, the days of the social network's experiment with democracy may soon come to an end. The company on Wednesday proposed to take away its users' right to vote on major issues concerning the governance of its 1 billion-member online network. The reaction online has been less than welcoming. "Facebook now argues that it is too big for democracy, much like the Chinese government might," writes Michael Phillips on the site BuzzFeed. "Call this new regime Facebook with Authoritarian Characteristics." Since 2009, in what Facebook calls an experiment with digital voting rights, Facebook has allowed users to vote on major changes to the way it manages user data and privacy, if the online community expressed enough interest. If 7,000 people commented on a particular proposal, that triggered a vote.
People:
Michael Phillips
Overall Sentiment: 0
Relevance: 0.144182
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| 0 | "Facebook now argues that it is too big for democracy, much like the Chinese government might," writes Michael Phillips ... |
| 0.0718192 | "Facebook now argues that it is too big for democracy, much like the Chinese government might," writes Michael Phillips on the site BuzzFeed. "Call this new regime Facebook with Authoritarian Characteristics." |
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Somini Sengupta
Overall Sentiment: 0.0494686
Relevance: 0.124044
| Sentiment | Quote |
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| -0.257913 | "Democracy can be difficult, especially for a multibillion dollar public company," writes Somini Sengupta ... |
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Erin Egan
Overall Sentiment: 0
Relevance: 0.120202
Slate
Overall Sentiment: 0.0417061
Relevance: 0.118814
| Sentiment | Quote |
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| 0.0523617 | "Because it hasn't revoked that right yet, there is still time for you to mount a campaign to retain it, in theory," writes Will Oremus for Slate. |
| -0.141207 | "Because it hasn't revoked that right yet, there is still time for you to mount a campaign to retain it, in theory," writes Will Oremus for Slate. "But Facebook knows it's highly unlikely that you will. It turns out that, for all of the shrill cries that fly around the Internet every time Zuckerberg and company make a tweak, most people just don't care enough to take action. At least, not on the types of changes that Facebook allowed them to vote on." |
| -0.0620653 | Slate. "But Facebook knows it's highly unlikely that you will. It turns out that, for all of the shrill cries that fly around the Internet every time Zuckerberg and company make a tweak, most people just don't care enough to take action. At least, not on the types of changes that Facebook allowed them to vote on." Phillips, the BuzzFeed writer, says this is a watershed moment for the Internet. "By repealing Facebook Suffrage, Facebook abandons a fundamental norm -- that its users are citizens in a community, and not simply datapoints on an advertising algorithm. The vote may be quixotic, but if Facebook remains the indispensable social network, you'll want to be able to tell your grandchildren you fought for Facebook freedom. Who knows how Facebook will develop without your input." |
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Zuckerberg
Overall Sentiment: -0.0670072
Relevance: 0.118418
Disambiguation: BoardMember | CompanyFounderReferences:
Josh Constine
Overall Sentiment: -0.140824
Relevance: 0.110366
| Sentiment | Quote |
|---|---|
| -0.0742947 | "As a replacement for the vote, Facebook is proposing to continue offering the seven-day comment period on proposed changes to its governing documents. It will also offer two new ways for users to voice their governance concerns," Josh Constine writes. ... |
| 0 | "As a replacement for the vote, Facebook is proposing to continue offering the seven-day comment period on proposed changes to its governing documents. It will also offer two new ways for users to voice their governance concerns," Josh Constine writes. "There's 'Ask the Chief Privacy Officer,' a new feature on the official Facebook Privacy Pages that will let users submit questions to Erin Egan, Facebook's Chief Privacy Officer. Additionally, Egan would hold regular live-streamed webcasts where users can ask questions. If the proposal is allowed, these new features will be substituted for the vote." |
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Key:
- Aggregate Sentiment is meant to be an indicator of an individual's overall sentiment.
- The Mean is meant to be an indicator of an individual's average comment sentiment.
- The Standard Deviation, when there are enough quotes, will indicate an individual's consistency of sentiment (i.e. a Standard Deviation of 0 would mean they were very consistent in their sentiment and 1 would mean they were very inconsistent).
Note that quote stats are likely to be meaningless beyond the aggregate score due to the tiny sample size. However, they are always provided just in case you find something useful there.
Additional Info:
Company: Facebook
Overall Sentiment: -0.0439017
Relevance: 0.931887
Disambiguation: Website | VentureFundedCompanyReferences:
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Unless Facebook users fight back, the days of the social network's experiment with democracy may soon come to an end.
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Facebook and the end of digital democracy?
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