Facebook tells the press, over and over and over again, that they are working on stopping the spread of misinformation on their platform, but what one might see as an advertisement on their feed tells a different story entirely. These sponsored posts were collected from a single Facebook account starting on July 30th. This Facebook account exists to monitor extremism and conspiracy theory, and Facebook’s algorithm sure plays along.
As I write this article, Facebook is holding out the ball for the press to kick on QAnon, and the press will report that the ball has been held out, but whether or not the ball ever actually gets kicked will very likely not be reported on. Because if there’s one thing Facebook knows how to do, it’s play the press. And if there’s one thing media outlets are afraid to do, it’s cross Facebook in any meaningful way. After all, where do you think most of their web traffic comes from? Even if Facebook does what they say they’re gonna do with QAnon this time, it’s a lot like closing the barn door after the animals have already escaped.
Well, from where I sit, Facebook is not only not “doing anything” about the spread of dangerous misinformation on their website, they’re monetizing misinformation on their website.
So without any further bloviating on my part, let’s take a look at what I have found.
if the images appear too small to read on your device, just click/tap them to enlarge
In April, Facebook played the press on 5G. Here we have a bunch of ads which appeared on their platform well after the press ever so credulously reported what Facebook told them to report about the spread of misinformation about 5G on the website.
This one is along the same lines as the other 5G stuff, but it’s making the absurd claim that 5G comes from space. 5G does not come from space. But hey, they paid for an ad, so it’s all gravy, baby.
Here’s some piece of metal or plastic you can buy to protect yourself from 5G. Totally not a scam.
Facebook never said they were getting rid of chemtrails content as far as we know, but come on… Really? An ad for Geoengineering Watch? I mean, these people use photoshopped images on their website and their dear leader Dane Wigington uses photoshopped images in his presentations.
And this right here? Well it’s basically just telling people to distrust medical science during a pandemic. Because… well because some guy called it a religion.
Here’s an ad for Weird Mike Cernovich’s movie… not sure Facebook ever specifically said they’d try to reduce the reach of this garbage, so here they are taking money to increase the reach of it.
Here’s an “autism cure”. A natural one. With extra reach from Facebook because, you know, money talks and so does bullshit if it has money.
Graphic design is their passion.
Remember reading several times that Facebook told the press they were doing something about anti-vaccine content on their website? Well, here’s them continuing to monetize the anti-vaccine movement.
Here’s some ads for covid-19 misinformation. Not much more to say here.
Far less likely to cause societal harm, but still, what the fuck is this?
This one right here is an ad for a book that is essentially, telling us that young girls think it’s mad trendy to be trans. Seems legit.
And for good measure, here’s Facebook monetizing “The Boogaloo”. Okay.
Here’s a notification about our page reach. We report on this kind of stuff, so of course we “post misinformation” on our Facebook page. But it’s not like we’re promoting the misinformation. We are pointing out that it exists on Facebook. A conspiracy minded person might think maybe that’s the actual problem Facebook has here, but who knows.
But don’t worry, Facebook is tackling bullying. This pill popping frog tried to bully the president, and they nipped it in the bud.
I am still collecting screen shots and you can expect another magazine article chock full of them by the end of August. As the election nears, I fear that the number ads containing misinformation on the Facebook platform will increase dramatically, especially ads that misinform about the current global pandemic. If you see these kinds of ads and want to help me with this project, please feel free to email them to echo@echoplexmedia.com or drop them in our Discord. If you’d like credit, just mention that you want your name or the name of your organization to be noted in the article and we’ll put it right under the picture so everyone knows you’re the lucky person who had your feed polluted.
