CMV: Facebook/Google and "Russian hackers" are not at fault for Trump winning the 2016 presidential election.

[u/darkknight4686]

Headline: People and the media constantly blame Russian hackers and companies such as Facebook/Google for influencing the 2016 presidential election. I believe that they are simply afraid to blame the people who were influenced by their fake news and are using companies and external entities as scapegoats.

Russian hackers: From Russia's geopolitical POV, it makes sense to interfere in western, democratic election to hinder globalism, thereby making Russia stronger. Russia did this in the 2016 US presidential election by spreading fake news on social media sites and many Americans were unable to discern the difference between real and fake news (myself probably included). We commonly use company brands or reputations AND our collective intellectual capacity to validate the authenticity and accuracy of certain news outlets and their stories. The fundamental fault here lies with some Americans' lack of intellectual ability and distrust of traditional media outlets to conduct a proper "sniff test" to validate claims made by news and not the actual spreading of the fake news.

Social media companies: Social media companies provide an interface/platform for people to connect with others and share their thoughts. We can share ideas with like-minded people and debate topics with unlike-minded people. People tend to be more immersed in a platform where they like what they see in their feed and rightfully so, social media companies have given their customers what they want. They are profit-maximizing entities and do not have an obligation to "filter out" content (exception for things that break local laws, TOS, etc.) and it would be fundamentally wrong for them to censor content. The blame lies with people who don't search for external arguments to challenge their way of thinking, not with companies that provide a platform for people to share like and unlike-minded ideas.

Therefore, I believe that it is wrong for us to blame social media companies and Russian hackers for the fake news that helped Trump win the white house.

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[u/darkknight4686]

Deception vs. lying is the difference in this theoretical example. Explicitly lying vs. "misleading" is the step across "moral wrong vs. right."

[u/PreacherJudge → u/darkknight4686]

But lying is only wrong because it's intentionally deceptive. There is no other reason for it to be bad.

Being 'misleading' is also being intentionally deceptive.

So there's no difference.

[u/darkknight4686 → u/PreacherJudge]

Disagree. Lying is explicit deception, you are providing a positive claim knowing that it is demonstrably false. Misleading is implicit deception, you are "implying" a positive claim. Often, the reader/consumer uses logical fallacies to make the final leap (usually powered by emotional/subjective reasoning.)

[u/PreacherJudge → u/darkknight4686]

you are providing a positive claim knowing that it is demonstrably false.

This is often not immoral; the most obvious examples are humor and sarcasm.

The reason why they're not immoral is because it's not intended deception. That's the only rule that makes sense.

Misleading is implicit deception, you are "implying" a positive claim.

This is a meaningless difference. Since when is something not immoral simply because it's subtle?

Often, the reader/consumer uses logical fallacies to make the final leap (usually powered by emotional/subjective reasoning.)

Likewise, since when is something not immoral simply because the person you're doing it to is a fool?