Facebook and its family of social media platforms, including Instagram and WhatsApp, were inaccessible for hours on Monday a few weeks ago, taking out vital means of communication for billions of people around the world. The outage came at a time when whistle-blower Frances Haugen, a former Facebook product manager, provided thousands of pages of internal research to news media, lawmakers and regulators, revealing yet again Facebook’s dirtiest secrets.

Several political commentators have alleged that the outage was perhaps a well-crafted PR action by Facebook to show the world the dependence it has on Facebook for communication. This is especially so in countries like Myanmar and India, where Facebook is synonymous with the internet.

In the Netherlands, Facebook and its family apps are the most used social media platforms, yet Facebook’s role in the viral spread of misinformation, Qanon theories, bullying, and more complexly festering distrust in democratic institutions is seen as a non-Dutch problem.

This could not be further from the truth. The earliest anti-corona measure protests in 2020 in the Netherlands were coordinated and garnered mass support through Facebook groups. Protest leaders like Michel Reijinga, Willam Engel and Elke de Klerk, and groups such as Artsen Collectief, Nee tegen Corona Maatregelen, Stop5GNL, Revrouwlutie and others all found their support base on Facebook. What were initially niche actors soon became leaders to the masses, as influencers like Robert Jansen, Lang Frans, and even political leaders like Thierry Baudet fueled the fire of dissatisfaction. 

The existence of these groups and their growth on Facebook is not a problem per se, as everyone has a right to freedom of speech and expression. However, it becomes problematic when only one type of narrative is hyper-amplified. Despite Facebook’s commitment towards correcting its algorithmic amplification and reducing the volume of COVID misinformation, and its explicit commitment to removing Qanon content, in our research we found that theories ranging from pedophilic cabal to outright dismissal of a global pandemic have been widely shared in Dutch speaking groups since September 2020.

Our research using Facebook’s own research tool – CrowdTangle - clearly showed that debunked documentaries like Jeanet Ossbard's Fall of Cabal were popular on Dutch Facebook pages and groups – in fact, the number of reshares of this documentary was second only to the United States. This came in the light of the US Capitol Hill riots, wherein Q theories fueled by populist political leaders signaled to the world how dangerous conspiracies are for the health of the democracy. In May 2021 we brought this to the knowledge of Facebook but as Q and Qanon were no longer seen as threat to US democracy the effect of Qanon conspiracy were also ignored in other parts of the world.

Since July 2021, we have been pointing out to Facebook that they are inconsistent in applying their policies in non-English speaking regions. Instead, their algorithms regularly amplify shocking voices.

Importantly, the policies of the government to impose QR codes and vaccine passports seem to be a shock-response to a perceived need to vaccinate everyone. The inflated noise on social media of those unwilling to vaccinate has built an imagined threat where State actors think compulsory actions are needed. For example, Health Minister Hugo de Jonge suggested that ‘too many people are not getting vaccinated, which is why the measurements are needed.’ Conversely, RIVM figures show this is not true. Not only are 85% of the Dutch population already vaccinated, but 90% of the people are in fact willing to get vaccinated. This shows that the inflated noise of 10% vaccine deniers has not only drowned the views of 90% of the vaccinated adults who would like to get on with their lives, but has also drowned out the voices of the vulnerable people who may genuinely be unable to get vaccinated. 

As such, the Dutch government is demonstrating a misplacement of trust in the rationality of Dutch citizens, while mistrust towards the Dutch Government itself is also increasing - inflated by social media amplification. 

This certainly begs the question of how Facebook and other platforms and messaging apps are adversely influencing information flow, manipulating public opinion, and deconstructing the public debate in the Netherlands.

Overall, we need to seriously interrogate what it means that Facebook's self-regulation and algorithm adjustments appear to be so bitterly failing. After all, it is widely known that Facebook algorithmic amplification played a strong role in not just promoting hate speech and xenophobia in Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Ethiopia and India, but also rationalized it as the new normal and downplayed it as just a reflection of society – which is utterly inaccurate given the role of algorithms in amplifying.

Are we headed towards a more dangerous realm of misogyny, racism and xenophobia? In a western democracy like the Netherlands, we may feel safe for now. But how long will it take until Facebook's algorithms and its inconsistent policies on content moderation allow racist, misogynist and xenophobic narratives to take a grip of our largely free society?

Read the Dutch article written by Dr. Manuvie on the NRC newspaper.