Roger-Luc Chayer
In recent years, Facebook, the most used social network in the world, has been criticized by many governments, companies, media and individuals for the way it manages its business and the interaction between members. For example, Facebook is criticized for manipulating information and skimping on monitoring the sometimes downright false information circulating there, but also for tolerating heinous behavior that would be criminal if it took place on the street. Intimidation, harassment, defamation are the most frequent examples.
Under the pretext of freedom of speech, Facebook allows things to happen that would require a better legal framework, because freedom of expression in Canada is not the same as in France and what is an opinion in the United States could be defamatory in Quebec. But lo and behold, Meta, the parent company of Facebook, knows how to bend the rules and even how to give the appearance of good management. I will give you an example that happened to me on September 11, when I saw a message about the Quebec election campaign and health measures. Clearly, the member’s page in question is one of conspiracy theories with a slew of false information about vaccines and the pseudo « world government that wants our collective doom », in short, here’s an excerpt from the post and my retort: »Syl – To 5 days of Christmas I find myself unemployed with no certainty of going through a 3rd closure of my bar. and a litany of reproaches against Mr. Legault ensues. The message, published on September 11, dated December 20, 2021, when the state was forced to close several establishments in order to control the spread of COVID. In response to the lady, I wrote: « Mr. Legault is not responsible for closures worldwide, it’s COVID, and Madame was certainly entitled to PCRE! “, a message after all quite tempered and a rather measured response, don’t you think?
This is where a Jacques Ducasse answers me: “hey the clown… We are not talking here about the whole world… Legault applies the directives of the World Government which aims at the DESTRUCTION OF ALL SMEs AND RUIN THE MIDDLE CLASS … HE IS THE ONLY REAL RESPONSIBLE FOR MORE THAN 6000 DEATHS IN CHSLDs. LEAVING THE ELDERS TO DIE ALONE LIKE DOGS.. HE IS ONE OF THE BIGGEST CRIMINAL IN QUEBEC WITH ALL THESE SERIAL MURDERS… AND IT’S NOT OVER WITH ALL THE INJECTERS WHO DIED AND THE MILLIONS THAT WILL FOLLOW.. AND ON 3 OCTOBER OUT THE CRIMINAL WITH YOUR WINNING.. (Sic)»
When I flagged these comments as misleading and aggressive, Facebook deleted the text, or so I thought until I used another Facebook account to verify it, and presto, the message was still there he had been made invisible only to me. That’s why the law must be changed so that we stop manipulating Facebook customers, but also social networks in general, because by hiding the message for me only, I was being deceived, and it’s not good for anyone because in the end, the lying and conspiratorial statement was still there!