Slamming Netflix, Facebook says 'The Social Dilemma' is distorted

New Delhi: Slamming the new Netflix documentary 'The Social Dilemma', Facebook has come down heavily on the leading content streaming platform, saying it has buried the substance in sensationalism.

While most of the people loved the documentary that shows how social media platforms treat users as a product and spreads misinformation, the social network criticised the documentary, stressing that it gives a distorted view of how social media platforms work to create a convenient scapegoat for what are difficult and complex societal problems.

The seven-point rebuttal came as 'The Social Dilemma' created waves globally for exploring the dangerous human impact of social networking, with tech experts sounding the alarm on their own creations.

Denying that it treats users as a product, Facebook said it is an ads-supported platform, which means that selling ads allows it to offer everyone else the ability to connect for free.

The documentary from Jeff Orlowski tried to make a point that addiction and privacy breaches are the features, not bugs, of the social media platforms

Facebook said that it uses algorithms to improve the experience for people using its apps "just like any dating app, Amazon, Uber, and countless other consumer-facing apps that people interact with every day".

The documentary was released on Netflix last month with a message that social media platforms are irresponsibly using their power, dividing society with addictive misinformation.

According to Facebook, the film's creators do not include insights from those currently working at the companies or any experts that take a different view to the narrative put forward by the film.

Despite what the film suggests, Facebook said it has policies that prohibit businesses from sending it sensitive data about people, including users' health information or social security numbers.

Netflix was yet to comment on this.

The documentary also touches upon the failure on part of social media firms on maintaining election integrity, to which Facebook said that it did acknowledge that it made mistakes in the 2016 US presidential elections.

(With inputs from IANS)