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Interesting Times with Ross Douthat

Should Facebook Be Fact-Checked?

Interesting Times with Ross Douthat

New York Times Opinion

New York Times, Journalism, News, Society & Culture, Ross Douthat

4.07.2K Ratings

🗓️ 31 October 2019

⏱️ 32 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Should Facebook be more strict when it comes to fact-checking political ads? The columnists debate growing concern over the social media giant’s role in American politics. Then, the writer Tara Isabella Burton joins Ross and Michelle for a Halloween-inspired discussion of astrology, witchcraft, the decline of religious observance and American millennials’ growing interest in the occult. For background reading on this episode, visit nytimes.com/theargument.

Transcript

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0:00.0

I'm Michelle Goldberg.

0:01.2

I'm Ross Douthon.

0:02.4

I'm David Lee and Hart, and this is the argument.

0:07.6

This week, is it Facebook's job to monitor political advertising?

0:12.0

As long as Facebook is as powerful as it is,

0:15.5

there should be some sort of accountability for spreading

0:19.5

disinformation and propaganda.

0:21.5

Then, in the spirit of Halloween,

0:24.0

we talk about rising interest in the occult.

0:26.9

What we're seeing is a kind of mix and match approach to spirituality,

0:31.8

where people who are turned off by organized religions

0:37.2

are in many ways cobbling together their own.

0:39.8

And finally, a recommendation.

0:42.0

There's this interesting dialogue between these two

0:45.2

Hoffa connected. It works, works of art right now.

0:53.7

There's growing concern over Facebook's approach to political ads,

0:56.7

not only among lawmakers and the general public, but inside the company too.

1:00.8

In an open letter this week, employees asked Facebook to rethink its decision

1:05.2

not to fact-check ads by candidates.

1:08.1

This all comes after Mark Zuckerberg's testimony before Congress last week,

1:12.2

which included an intense exchange with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

1:16.9

Could I run ads targeting Republicans and primaries saying that they voted for the Green New Deal?

...

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