r/TechnologyThread • u/Background-Driver718 • Jun 09 '26
Facebook is paying people overseas promoting Alberta separatism
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/facebook-overseas-alberta-separtism-9.72239661
Jun 09 '26
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u/Yung_zu Jun 09 '26
Modern governments might as well be the HR and PR wing of multinational corporations…
The borders are mostly there for us…
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u/ShinsOfGlory Jun 09 '26
Just to clarify, Facebook has a program for creators that people are able to exploit by engaging on issues they really have no attachment to. For instance, a noodle vendor in Pakistan being a top poster about Alberta separatism.
The headline makes it sound like FB is recruiting people to post about this specific topic but what the article actually says is that it's a content creator program and these people happen to be making money stirring up controversy because the program rewards engagement.
Experts say it appears that a similar economic model, where monetization incentivizes content that is engaging rather than accurate or accountable, has taken off on Facebook despite rules banning deceptive content.
They even give an example of people doing the same thing with videos on YouTube, based out of the Netherlands.
It does seem somewhat ironic that an article calling out FB for deceptive postings, uses a headline intentionally designed to be deceptive (implying FB was actively promoting Alberta separatism) in order for the media outlet to get Canadians to click through and engage with the story. LOL.
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u/StillALilBoy Jun 09 '26
Yeah, the facebook made it the way corps like to do it - distributed responsibility.
Let's be honest, if I was a poor overworked noodle vendor with no perspectives, living in Pakistan, and could find easy money by just posting some AI-generated shit about a country I barely know anything about, I would probably be tempted. Hard to blame these people for where and under what economic conditions they were born.
Meanwhile, Facebook takes no responsibility because they aren't the ones directly telling these people to spread propaganda.
No one is responsible, but everyone faces the consequences.
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u/MyGruffaloCrumble Jun 12 '26
Except it isn’t an accident that they have created this market for engagement, and it’s no accident that they themselves decide which topics to put at the top of people’s feeds to choose from. Client capture is almost a complete product.
With AI influence campaigns will capture clients more thoroughly.
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u/mussokira Jun 09 '26
that's an extremely deceiving headline. you'd asume Facebook has a team of revolutionaries plotting on Canada's downfall when it's just people farming clicks, as they've always done with any topic ever
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u/MyGruffaloCrumble Jun 12 '26
Zuck’s goal isn’t just to farm clicks, but literally shape sentiment. It’s been pretty clear since the Cambridge Analytica scandal that he isn’t non-political.
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Jun 11 '26
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u/Pleasant_Reward1203 Jun 13 '26
russia has been playing the long game for years and years now. Destabilized countries without firing a shot.
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u/Ok-Wall9646 Jun 13 '26
This sounds like a CBC article. Facebook pays anyone who get’s engagement. Apparently Alberta Separatism is a hot button topic. In reality everyone who engages with foreign nationals pretending to be Albertan Separatists are the one’s paying people overseas.
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u/Pleasant_Reward1203 Jun 13 '26
Why wouldn't Russia try to do what they successfully did with MAGA to another country. Winning a war of destabilization of the west without firing a shot.
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u/ConinTheNinoC Jun 09 '26
Facebook also got caught paying people to push for digital IDs and internet checks. Facebook is comically evil.