Skip to content

EricN Publications

Publications by Eric Niewoehner

Menu
  • Non-Fiction
    • A God Thing
      • Rachel’s Prairie
      • Adolescent Meditations
    • Oakland
      • Old Buildings Can be Creepy
      • Food for Thought
      • Dust in the Wind
      • The Arc of Travel
    • Iconium
    • Thinking Out Loud
      • Is Juneau Running Out of Diesel?
      • The Volkmer Effect on Alaska’s Congressional Representation
      • The Tragedy of Russia
      • Are We In A Recession?
      • Where Does Inflation Come From?
      • The Mail-In Ballot Experience
      • The Debt We Owe
      • The Solution to Paying Off Student Debt
      • Student Debt: Are Colleges to Blame?
      • The Problem of Student Debt
      • Fighting Inflation – A Trip to the Grocery Store
      • Ukraine – Poland 1939 All Over Again
      • Broken: Is Public Education Beyond Repair?
      • Transparency and Critical Race Theory
      • The New Wave
      • The Pro Act and YouTube
      • Almond Abstract and the Pursuit of Happiness
      • Open Letter to Major League Baseball
      • Tribute to Rush Limbaugh
      • Why Parler?
      • Adults in the Room
      • The Invisible Hand
      • Transparency
      • Fake News Update
      • Solution to Fake News
    • Old Friends
      • The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution
        • Sources and Traditions
        • Power and Liberty
        • The Logic of Rebellion
        • A Note On Conspiracy
        • Transformation — From Reaction to Revolution
        • The Contagion of Liberty
      • The Road to Serfdom
        • Introductions — Or Before You Begin
        • The Road Once Traveled
        • Are You A Nazi?
        • Are You A Socialist?
        • Individualism
    • The Pandemic Journal
      • When Does Ten Percent Matter?
      • Federalism — Or Intentional Chaos
      • Faith (Part II)
      • Faith
      • The Big Surprise
      • Teleworking
      • The Invisible Hand
      • Unbelievable
      • Rethinking Education
      • Perception
      • Selfie and the Mask
      • China
      • Strategic Globalism
      • Risk
      • Media
      • Unknowable
      • Home Schooling
      • Grocery Chronicles
    • When Few Were Watching
    • The Advent Conspiracy
      • What’s Missing
      • Cash Only Please
      • Worship Fully
      • Give More
      • Christmas — It’s a Tide, not a Day
  • Fiction by Eric Niewoehner
  • Technology Publications
    • Technology Blogs
      • A Play on Words
      • Spam Update — How to Avoid Spam
      • Facebook — A Sickening Feeling
      • Can PayPal Be Trusted?
      • Are You Ready to Rumble?
      • The Alaskan Congressional Rodeo
      • The Gift of Gab
      • Facebook – What Say You?
      • What’s Up with Parler
      • Out of Control? – Security Vulnerabilities in Control Systems
      • The Case of Lorie Smith
      • Facebook — Impersonated Accounts
      • The Case of Josh Renaud
      • SHAKEN, But Not STIRred
      • Can GoDaddy Be Trusted?
      • Ransomware and the Mechanical Pencil
      • Tracking Scams in Phone Messages
      • Disaster Recovery — The Case of Parler
      • CVS Update
      • Why Parler?
      • Computer Vision Syndrome
      • Passwords – the Gremlins of Cyberspace
      • Spam Filtering: Mastering Your E-mail
    • The Facebook Safe Space
    • Technical Documentation
      • Welcome to DOGland
      • Windows 10 and Computer Vision Syndrome
      • Sustainable Printing
    • The Tech Community
    • Introducing Substack and Locals.Com
  • Contact
  • About
  • Lessons Learned
Menu
Alaska Watchman Logo

Facebook – What Say You?

Posted on April 22, 2022December 28, 2022 by Eric Niewoehner

In regards to determining misinformation: “Do you trust yourself to figure these things out?” If you do, is it any business of Facebook to decide these matters for you?

The Case of Alaska Watchman

Every morning I scan through search results on specific issues I follow. One of the hits introduced me to an independent news operation called Alaska Watchman. While I find some of their articles of interest, it was an article they posted in regards to Facebook that caught my attention. It presents an unique example of “censorship” on Facebook. You would think that what they posted would have been “hate” speech or an attack on a particular group. But it was broader than that. It was “misinformation.” In fact, it wasn’t even information itself that was in question. It was simply a link to a website that posted “misinformation.”

In my new retirement career, exploring “misinformation” is part of the cycle of writing on any particular subject. I have been tracking a lot of Russian propaganda as well as YouTube postings from ordinary Russians to get some sort of gauge on what they are experiencing. You often wonder about what is genuine, what is “discreet,” and what is flat-out baloney. The same applies to information coming from Ukraine. While I enjoy seeing the good guys win, you have to remind yourself that what you want to see and what is actually happening on the ground are two different things. I noticed that with most “mainstream” media, they are often cautious about which information is actually presented for this reason.

My approach is to leave it up to you. I often present at the end of my articles “Resources” that you can check yourself. My objective is to present the truth and to be as accurate as possible. But I also have my biases and it is reflected in the subjects I choose to write about and the measure of opinion I insert into my articles. Again – I leave it up to you to figure that out. You are an adult.

Facebook has trouble with that philosophy. No doubt, Alaska Watchman has its bent. But most anybody with an above average IQ can figure that out with one glance at their news site. The same applies to any website they refer to in their articles. You follow the link and you can decide.

The punishment Facebook doles out is rather harsh. To quote the article,

Due to this dubious infraction, we are unable to post until Wednesday, banned from posting in groups for five days, and all our articles will be algorithmically buried for 28 days. This is not the first time Facebook has censored Watchman content, and probably not the last.

I find the whole thing a bit wearisome to track. I really have no skin in this game. I find alternative treatments to COVID-19 interesting and non-threatening. I chose to get vaccinated. But the side-effects of the vaccines are real. Death for athletes has increased significantly this past year. This has not only been reported by an alternative news source like Epoch Times, but by German public broadcasting.

So it returns to this question: “Do you trust yourself to figure these things out?” If you do, is it any business of Facebook to decide these matters for you?

The punishment meted out to Alaska Watchman is ridiculous. It is one reason why Facebook is not a popular conduit for dispensing information. They can’t be trusted. Even John Stossel has been whacked by Facebook – you know him – one of America’s most trusted news reporters?

You decide.

Resources

An article just loaded with misinformation: “Covid vax injury reporting system launches as alternative to CDC,” Alaska Watchman, by Joel Davidson, April 13, 2022

The belly of the Beast itself:
Truth for Health Vaccine Reporting Website

Alaska Watchman Facebook Page

If you wish to comment on this article, please connect to my Facebook page.

© Copyright 2022 to Eric Niewoehner

Read More Technology Blogs

Related

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

EricN Publication Logo
  • Facebook page for EricN Publications
  • LinkedIn page for EricN Publications
  • Twitter page for EricN Publications

Recent Posts

  • Why The Facebook Safe Space
  • Facebook — Impersonated Accounts
  • Individualism
  • A Play on Words
  • Spam Update — How to Avoid Spam

Categories

  • A God Thing
  • Advent Conspiracy
  • Alaska
  • Bernard Bailyn
  • Documentation
  • Economics
  • Education
  • FA Hayek
  • Facebook
  • Faith
  • History
  • Life
  • Missouri
  • Non-Fiction
  • Oakland
  • Old Friends
  • Pandemic Journal
  • Politics
  • Security
  • Social Media
  • Tech Blogs
  • Technology
  • Thinking Out Loud

Archives

  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • April 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • November 2018
  • August 2018
  • April 2018
  • February 2017
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • July 2016
Copyright Notice

All articles are copyrighted material from Eric Niewoehner.

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
© 2023 EricN Publications | Powered by Minimalist Blog WordPress Theme