Facebook Scrapped Plans For A ‘Civil Discourse’ Politics Feature

Facebook Scrapped A ‘Civil Discourse’ Politics Feature

Over the last year, Facebook has faced more than a few criticisms over the way it is run. One of these has been the perceived way in which the social media site appears to take much stronger action against ‘right-wing’ political commentators than their left-wing counterparts. The move has seen a number of political commentators banned from the website completely.

In a report via The Verge though, it appears that, for a time, the social media site was considering starting a political feature to promote ‘civil discourse’ between members.

Wait… What?!

The feature, which was known as “Common Ground” planned to bring all political orientated people together to discuss things in an adult and intellectual nature. There is, however, one major problem. When it comes to modern politics, although adults may be involved, the discourse is often nothing close to intellectual.

The social media site did, however, also fear that the feature may lead to further reinforcement of the perception that they are ‘anti-right’. Remember, 2018 was the year that saw InfoWars’ Alex Jones banned from the platform.

What Do We Think?

Facebook has gotten a lot wrong in 2018. This, however, may be the silver lining to the very dark cloud that the people who run the social media site might actually have a brain between them. Such a feature, while noble in intent, would’ve been an absolute disaster in terms of public relations and perception.

Admittedly, it might have been an interesting social experiment. This is, however, almost certainly an idea that, at least for Facebook, is best left well alone.

What do you think? Would this have been a good or bad idea? – Let us know in the comments!