Facebook's refusing to take down a fake video of Nancy Pelosi, a video being dubbed as news, in which her speech has been altered to make her appear drunk.
No it's not endangering anyone's life, but it's still fake - and it's still targeting an innocent woman by falsely representing her.
YouTube removed it. But not Facebook, they're leaving it there.
Why? Because they don't care.
Oh they know it's fake, they've acknowledged that, but they still don't care. It's been viewed more than 2.5 million times (which probably gives you a clue as to why they're leaving it up).
Facebook defended the decision by saying it's up to people to make up their own minds.
That's all well and good, but don't you have a responsibility to provide accurate information? Or at least show intent to?
And how then do we view Facebook? Is it a news publisher? Or a social media cesspit where anything goes?
And what about the people who can't tell the difference?
One of the commenters under the fake drunk Pelosi post said, "Why is she not arrested for being drunk while conducting federal business as a federal employee!" So not everyone gets it.
A chunk of people will believe it's real, and if you're allowing that misinformation to circulate, knowing it's false and misrepresenting someone, then are you being responsible?
I think there's a good argument these days that the responsibility ship sailed long ago for Facebook.
Really, the only mugs are us. For belonging, for giving them clicks. For sharing their crap. For commenting, for giving it credence.
Fake videos altering reality are not new, but they're usually unkind and unfair to the target. And there's always going to be a bunch of people who believe it's real.
So can we really blame Facebook for that? Or are we to blame for giving Facebook any sort of credit in the first place.
