When I'm rooting around on the internet, looking up background on stuff I might write about, I often see Facebook as a corporate partner or sponsor of this or that fact-checking initiative, think tank, peace institute, war college, community event, foundation... etc.
Facebook is everywhere. At this very moment a neighbour just posted he's tapping the maple trees.
That's the insidious thing about Facebook.
I know my neighbour. I know he taps the maple trees every spring. His social media post can and will be confirmed by my next walk up the side-road.
Same with a lot of other local stuff folks put on Facebook. It's generally true. We know that because you can drive by the posters house and see the tree that fell over in the wind storm.
That's how we get comfy-cozy with a corporate behemoth that does not necessarily have our best interests at heart.
Once you trust Facebook with the local things you know are true, the idea that an elderly woman in Ukraine knocked a Russian military drone out of the sky by hurling a jar of pickles at it, seems plausible.
It's a feel-good story, if nothing else.
Behind the feel-good story is the stark reality that Facebook has enormous influence in shaping public opinion.
We should pay a little more attention to how that enormous influence is being deployed.
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