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Over the past few years, Facebook has established itself as a central part of our day-to-day internet usage and communication and in doing so, become its own geo-political force. According to the video above, one in five minutes spent online are spent on Facebook. Which means, to quote the video, “It’s a cyber kingdom with a population of over two billion.”

But as it adds more users, Facebook is changing the internet and, by default, the very world we live in and how we interact with it.

Facebook has made concerted efforts to improve connectivity all over the world, in order to make Facebook accessible to everyone. This is, of course, great for developing countries, but it has enhanced Facebook’s presence to a point where critics have started comparing the social media giant’s dominance to “digital colonialism”.

Then, there are the mysifying Facebook algorithms, which determine which posts users can see. The site has been accused of prioritising inflammatory posts, which peddle half-truths and fake news. “This is the space where protests flare up around lies, and measured voices are shouted down by more radical ones,” this New York Times video notes.

This means, “On one hand, Facebook’s efforts bring internet to all of the world than ever before. On the other hand, you have the world as it looks today, where (people)... bicker on behalf of candidates using rumours and propaganda.” The video also expansively touches upon Facebook’s infamous, controversial community standards, and its tug-of-war between freedom of speech and censorship.

But as the video notes, “Facebook is not a democracy, it’s a business.”