> I'd be curious to see varying definitions of "factual"
Go to any "fact checking" site, they regularly "fact check" opinions and predictions about the future, which can't be "factual". Ask any of the current gatekeepers, which regularly block people expressing controversial opinions (about things like how to handle the beer bug or riots or any other current issue) for "misinformation" - completely ignoring the idea that opinions and facts are different things. The definition of "fact" in "fact checking" is basically "fact is something you don't get deplatformed for saying", more or less. Of course there's no better definition - why would they commit to any definition if "fact is what we say it is" works so well?
> Pre-filtering is not what's been proposed in the article
It is. That's what "amplifying factual voices" is - that is the only thing it could be - a filter. It doesn't have to be 100% block - but to be of any efficiency, it has to privilege one viewpoint and suppress another, and the choice will be made by the gatekeeper. It's not imagination - it's a basic requirement without which any mechanism like that would be useless. It has to make privileged opinion easy to reach, and excluded opinion hard to reach, otherwise there's no amplification.
> What's been proposed is to introduce an improvement to how things are pre-arranged
"Improvement" is a tricky word. When you define what is better for me, and "improve" things according to your definition, what happens if I disagree about what is better for me? Then your "improvements" are actually obstacles for me. But what if you're so sure you know what is better for me that you are determined to force it on me regardless of my opinion? That makes any such "improver" my enemy - they may think they are helping, but they are not, they are hurting.
> This is about trying to find the best way
When the "best way" is determined unilaterally by the oligarchy of the gatekeepers, it's usually the way that is best for them, not for me. I didn't ask for their help, and yet they are determined to force their "best way" onto me, whether I want it or not, whether I consider it best or not. This is a very common pattern that is repeated in human history again and again. Being on the receiving end of it is never fun, and rarely improves anything for the people being "helped" against their will.
Go to any "fact checking" site, they regularly "fact check" opinions and predictions about the future, which can't be "factual". Ask any of the current gatekeepers, which regularly block people expressing controversial opinions (about things like how to handle the beer bug or riots or any other current issue) for "misinformation" - completely ignoring the idea that opinions and facts are different things. The definition of "fact" in "fact checking" is basically "fact is something you don't get deplatformed for saying", more or less. Of course there's no better definition - why would they commit to any definition if "fact is what we say it is" works so well?
> Pre-filtering is not what's been proposed in the article
It is. That's what "amplifying factual voices" is - that is the only thing it could be - a filter. It doesn't have to be 100% block - but to be of any efficiency, it has to privilege one viewpoint and suppress another, and the choice will be made by the gatekeeper. It's not imagination - it's a basic requirement without which any mechanism like that would be useless. It has to make privileged opinion easy to reach, and excluded opinion hard to reach, otherwise there's no amplification.
> What's been proposed is to introduce an improvement to how things are pre-arranged
"Improvement" is a tricky word. When you define what is better for me, and "improve" things according to your definition, what happens if I disagree about what is better for me? Then your "improvements" are actually obstacles for me. But what if you're so sure you know what is better for me that you are determined to force it on me regardless of my opinion? That makes any such "improver" my enemy - they may think they are helping, but they are not, they are hurting.
> This is about trying to find the best way
When the "best way" is determined unilaterally by the oligarchy of the gatekeepers, it's usually the way that is best for them, not for me. I didn't ask for their help, and yet they are determined to force their "best way" onto me, whether I want it or not, whether I consider it best or not. This is a very common pattern that is repeated in human history again and again. Being on the receiving end of it is never fun, and rarely improves anything for the people being "helped" against their will.