Meta has tweaked the Facebook algorithm [14] to sideline links to news articles [15] and boost "memes [16]"—precisely the format most subject to the fabrications and distortions [17] being aggressively peddled [18] by both sides (yes) in the Gaza conflict. Such propaganda has already been implicated in genocide [19] in Burma [20] and Ethiopia [21]. But even apart from such egregious abuses, memes are dumbing down discourse and entrenching groupthink and dogmatism—and are being pushed by Meta as part of its sinister corporate design to enclose the internet [22]. In Episode 207 [23] of the CounterVortex podcast [24], Bill Weinberg calls for a total moratorium on posting or sharing memes as a means of pressure on Meta to re-emphasize actual news articles, and deep-six the war propaganda.
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Production by Chris Rywalt [27]
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