On ‘Radio Times’: ‘Facebook has taken over news distribution’

The 2016 election proved that Facebook is now a juggernaut of news distribution, both real and fake.

The social media platform is how most Americans get their news today. But the realities of this did not hit home until journalists and investigators took a deeper dive into the types of stories, and now purchased ads, that are shared.

But is it a news organization?

“If you owned all of the broadcasting equipment in the country, would you be in the news business if you broadcast news? Yes, or course you would!” So says Atlantic writer, Alexis Madrigal, who joined Marty Moss-Coane on Friday’s Radio Times.  He added, “That comes with certain responsibilities that they continue to refuse to take on.”

Madrigal appeared on the show alongside Slate tech writer, April Glaser. She added that Facebook’s official policy, rooted in a law from the 1990s, is that they are not responsible for what other people post on their platform, and this is their way of eschewing responsibility for the spread of fake news and propaganda.

Listen to the clip above.