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Facebook Has Repeatedly Trended Fake News Since Firing Its Human Editors

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Re: Facebook Has Repeatedly Trended Fake News Since Firing Its Human Editors

#142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The NYT editorial board put this on the front page of the paper: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/05/opinion/end-the-gun-epidem... They are very upfront about their biases, but they have biases nonetheless.

But everything has biases. Objectivity is a fib used by bullshit factories like RT to cast doubt over everything. It's not about bias at all, it's about credibility. NYT has credibility, BBC, NPR, The Times of London, Guardian, etc all do. RT, HuffPo, Brietbart do not.

I wouldn't say they have zero credibility, but I would put it on a sliding scale. However, places like Drudge, Buzzfeed have broken stories before so I wouldn't dismiss them out of hand.

Re: Facebook Has Repeatedly Trended Fake News Since Firing Its Human Editors

#143
post #34

Thank god someone is writing about this. Recently I've been on the Yahoo's homepage a lot, because of Fantasy Football, and I noticed that a lot of the content is exactly like the article says, fake news from right-wing propaganda sites. And no, this is not me expressing my liberal bias. It's one thing to have opinionated headlines like the Huffington Post, it's another thing to have a completely fictional headline c…

For someone outside of U.S, both right (breitbart etc.) and left (huff etc.) are propaganda all the way down . It is your left bias. And the people on other political spectrum feel the same but other way around. Watching American elections is like seeing a freak show. I don't understand who are those people who can support any of the candidates or the media.

Agreed, and sadly not limited to the US. One of the things I (eventually) realised is that here in the UK The Guardian is equivalent to The Daily Mail, but for liberal intelligentsia instead of Conservatives and UKIP supporters.

Re: Facebook Has Repeatedly Trended Fake News Since Firing Its Human Editors

#144
post #4

You're going to have to break the Turing Test before you get good automated content curation. There will always be error. People are worried about bias. I'm skeptical that humans have the ability to be politically unbiased on an individual level. Many modern political issues do not have a middle ground - take abortion, you are either for choice, or you believe it is infanticide. So let's stop pretending to be unbiase…

> take abortion, you are either for choice, or you believe it is infanticide Well, no, even on abortion there is usually a position somewhere in the middle is where a lot of people end up (and you left out part of the spectrum, where even contraceptives are believed to be morally wrong), and usually the law has ended up somewhere in the middle, too. We confuse "loudest" views with "most common" a lot these days, so I…

Some "middle positions" on abortion tend to be poorly thought out from a deontological perspective. Allowing abortion in cases of rape makes zero sense if abortion is murder, for example. Help should surely be given to rape victims, but giving it in the form of infanticide?

Re: Facebook Has Repeatedly Trended Fake News Since Firing Its Human Editors

#145
post #34

Thank god someone is writing about this. Recently I've been on the Yahoo's homepage a lot, because of Fantasy Football, and I noticed that a lot of the content is exactly like the article says, fake news from right-wing propaganda sites. And no, this is not me expressing my liberal bias. It's one thing to have opinionated headlines like the Huffington Post, it's another thing to have a completely fictional headline c…

For someone outside of U.S, both right (breitbart etc.) and left (huff etc.) are propaganda all the way down . It is your left bias. And the people on other political spectrum feel the same but other way around. Watching American elections is like seeing a freak show. I don't understand who are those people who can support any of the candidates or the media.

I feel the same way. And I'm a US citizen! I've been an expat for quite a while now and looking back at the US it is indeed a freak show.

Re: Facebook Has Repeatedly Trended Fake News Since Firing Its Human Editors

#146
post #34

Thank god someone is writing about this. Recently I've been on the Yahoo's homepage a lot, because of Fantasy Football, and I noticed that a lot of the content is exactly like the article says, fake news from right-wing propaganda sites. And no, this is not me expressing my liberal bias. It's one thing to have opinionated headlines like the Huffington Post, it's another thing to have a completely fictional headline c…

For someone outside of U.S, both right (breitbart etc.) and left (huff etc.) are propaganda all the way down . It is your left bias. And the people on other political spectrum feel the same but other way around. Watching American elections is like seeing a freak show. I don't understand who are those people who can support any of the candidates or the media.

That's a really cheap false equivalency. You've basically side nothing while ignorning the practical reality of what we're discussing. Take for example, the fact that Fox News will continually post stories about how Global Warming is a hoax, which is something the Huffington Post definitely won't do. The Huffington Post tends to write click-baity headlines, but they've never out right used lies in their articles. That's not bias, it's an observable trend.

Tell me, which is "propaganda."

Re: Facebook Has Repeatedly Trended Fake News Since Firing Its Human Editors

#147
post #34

Thank god someone is writing about this. Recently I've been on the Yahoo's homepage a lot, because of Fantasy Football, and I noticed that a lot of the content is exactly like the article says, fake news from right-wing propaganda sites. And no, this is not me expressing my liberal bias. It's one thing to have opinionated headlines like the Huffington Post, it's another thing to have a completely fictional headline c…

> Something along the lines of "Obama lets immigrants across border to kill white people"...

Well that is not fake, because such a title is unfalsifiable. Both sides use this kind of rhetoric now however, so, in a way the populist right wing has won. The idea of moderation or modesty is nonexistent in US and almost the same holds for UK media. That is wrong, because i believe (and i think one could find enough evidence if interested) that you can convince people by being moderate.

Re: Facebook Has Repeatedly Trended Fake News Since Firing Its Human Editors

#148
post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree. Not well versed in Huff Po but the left-leaning likes of NYT publish stories based in fact and backed up with reporting. Breitbart report whatever they wish without ever confirming if anything in a story is true.

Well I just checked the stories of Breitbart and looks all the things they write are true and have sources. Just checked few, I'm not an expert. I only read American propaganda newspapers sometimes out of morbid curiosity. The difference is how you spin the headlines and the facts. Both parties are guilty. Both parties feel only other side is doing it or say but look at the other website or magazine. Huff is full of…

>Huff is full of titles Trump is sexual predator without facts, just talks.

We have, on record, him describing sexual assault. With his own words. On the other hand, some of the people who now are claiming Bill is a rapist once testified under oath that he did _not_ rape them. On top of the fact that there is zero evidence in favor of that statement.

That's the difference. And you would definitely know this if you weren't being disingenuous.

Re: Facebook Has Repeatedly Trended Fake News Since Firing Its Human Editors

#149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

NYT might publish actual stories, but they also publish what is effectively propaganda. A lot of more "legitimate" news sources also have a tendency to selective report on things which fit a pre-established narrative on a topic that can effectively bury the truth. Here's an example where CNN did this: http://m.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/aug/16/cnn-edits-out-... And sadly the Washington Times is the least biased so…

I'm not seeing how your example is actual propaganda when it is more easily attributed to human error. If CNN were pushing this as a propaganda piece, they never would have issued a follow up statement correcting themselves.

They issued a statement after they were very publicly called out on it.

Re: Facebook Has Repeatedly Trended Fake News Since Firing Its Human Editors

#150
post #34

Thank god someone is writing about this. Recently I've been on the Yahoo's homepage a lot, because of Fantasy Football, and I noticed that a lot of the content is exactly like the article says, fake news from right-wing propaganda sites. And no, this is not me expressing my liberal bias. It's one thing to have opinionated headlines like the Huffington Post, it's another thing to have a completely fictional headline c…

For someone outside of U.S, both right (breitbart etc.) and left (huff etc.) are propaganda all the way down . It is your left bias. And the people on other political spectrum feel the same but other way around. Watching American elections is like seeing a freak show. I don't understand who are those people who can support any of the candidates or the media.

And for anyone who doubts this, please visit the candidate's reddits https://www.reddit.com/r/The_Donald/ and https://www.reddit.com/r/hillaryclinton/

just to realize that it's all the media, not just some of them.

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