• Instagram Depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts: the report that Facebook hid on the effects of Instagram

Towards the end of 2018, something changed on

Facebook

.

Not for the better.

By trying to

change its algorithm

to prioritize interactions between users instead of content released by large websites, it achieved the opposite of what was proposed.

It did not bring people together: it twitched them

.

According to a new report by The Wall Street Journal, in which

an internal and secret Facebook report

on the changes in its algorithm

is cited

, these changes were focused on reducing the impact of the media on its users so that they would have healthier relationships online.

The result, however, was that

sensationalism and hateful posts became wildly popular

, creating a climate of tension with clear consequences in the real world.

This investigation goes hand in hand with another published yesterday on how Instagram is destroying the self-esteem of a generation of women.

The report cites

Spain

as a clear example of what

Facebook

was achieving.

During the separatist protests in

Catalonia

Throughout 2018, hate messages, insults and threats grew by 43% among the Spanish

Facebook

audience

.

The reasoning of the company is that this increase in

tension is directly due to the change in the algorithm

.

To adapt to the new norms, social agents and political parties will change the form and substance of their messages, making them more sensationalist so that the algorithm of the social network will make them reach more people.

This could be read in two ways. One, that

Facebook

wanted to unite people, but they were hit by the cult. Another, that political parties and other opinion leaders are to

blame for the tension

because they used

Facebook

tools

in an inappropriate way.

However, given

Facebook's

response

, only the first option seems completely valid. When those responsible for this report presented

their results to

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg himself,

the executive's response was disappointing:

Zuckerberg did not want to change anything

so as not to reduce user interactions. In other words, so

that Facebook did not lose audience and, therefore, advertising revenue.

The solution to this mess does not seem easy.

The WSJ quotes James Barners, a former Facebook employee who left the company in 2019 for obvious reasons, as saying it's unclear how this can be fixed without creating another problem.

Facebook is so massive that there is no simple solution to its problems

, he says.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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