Facebook started on one college campus and grew to become part of people’s daily lives all over the world. Because of its popularity and influence both in the States and overseas, Facebook has found itself in the middle of many public and international affairs. This site has traditionally been viewed as a platform for sharing pictures and moments with a small group of family members and friends. However, it has evolved into a news source that people everywhere turn to for what they perceive to be accurate, factual information. This newfound power has turned a social network into a major social influencer, and made Facebook a prime target for internet trolls.
Posing as American activists, Russian government-linked trolls created 129 Facebook events between 2015 and 2017. Events created by one troll group were seen by more than 300,000 Facebook users. https://t.co/8hSERvcQiJ pic.twitter.com/tWrfGS96mZ
— CNN (@CNN) January 28, 2018
I agree with the views of The Guardian when it suggests Facebook works to disclose more information about sensitive user data and take precautions against foreign governments interfering with its site. Mark Zuckerberg took a step in the right direction by acknowledging that Facebook can do a better job of protecting its users against attacks from trolls and other negative interferences. It is unfortunate that Zuckerberg’s desire to fix these problems comes after many Facebook users and influencers called out the network’s lack of efforts to prevent these issues, especially following the last presidential election .
It's time for @twitter to confirm a real name and real person behind every account, and for @facebook to to get far more stringent on the same. I don't care what the user name is. But there needs to be a single human behind every individual account .
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) January 28, 2018
Hopefully this is the beginning of some serious changes in the social media world, allowing it to be utilized as a platform for the good of society and one that spreads opinion but also values the truth.