RX Radio Presenter James Onen aka Fatboy has urged Facebook to desist from engaging in the politics of foreign countries while claiming to control the spread of fake news, misinformation and disinformation.
This comes after Facebook deactivated 737 accounts in South Sudan that it claims were linked to a powerful paramilitary in the country, suspected of coordinated and inauthentic behaviour. In addition, the app pulled down 116 pages, 666 accounts, 69 groups and 92 Instagram accounts that it said were targeting the country’s home audiences. Facebook further said that these were reportedly linked to the rapid security forces currently operated by the Sudanese government.
According to Fatboy, Facebook has adopted a more radical left wing political stance that it’s not only using to censor content in America but also across different states and nations.
“Facebook seems to actively be inserting itself in the politics and social issues of many countries, using the left wing progressive stance to make decisions on issues such as abortion, immigration, gay rights and race. Typically, many users have been known to hold fake accounts on the app, so why is it not left to users to decide on the kind of information to believe or not, and when did Facebook become the arbiter of right and wrong?” Fatboy pondered.
However, Olive argued that Facebook has often been faulted for not censoring the information on the app, thus causing a reaction to bring down the pages suspected of spreading wrong information. But Fatboy insisted that Facebook has been selective to political accounts while leaving other pseudo ones to operate
“It's not that the terms are being violated but rather that Facebook is being selective in who chooses to say what. Because being an American company with a controversial political stance that reflects the interests of the left wing is one thing compared to, crossing borders and trying to decide on other nation’s private matters.”
Fatboy argued that Facebook censorship is selective given that many people have pseudo accounts and called on the app to leave the decision making to its users since the agenda of misinformation, disinformation and fact checking tends to be driven by political interests.
The Fatboy show is hosted by James Onen aka Fatboy and Olive Najjuma every weekday from 6am to 10am on RX Radio.