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Snowden: Stop Relying on Facebook for Your News

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Re: Snowden: Stop Relying on Facebook for Your News

#91

Post by hammock »

JacobJans wrote: post #66

I have interacted with several people on Facebook who rely on fake news sources. I pointed out fake news articles several times on one person's Facebook page. She agreed the articles were not true. However, she added "I don't have time to figure out if they're true. People can read your comments." I asked her what she thought of the fact that this particular article, which was blatantly false, was shared 16,000 times…

I don't really go on Facebook. Can you give an example of the type of fake news story you're talking about?

Re: Snowden: Stop Relying on Facebook for Your News

#92

Post by nickpsecurity »

dragonwriter wrote: post #71
JacobJans wrote: post #66

I have interacted with several people on Facebook who rely on fake news sources. I pointed out fake news articles several times on one person's Facebook page. She agreed the articles were not true. However, she added "I don't have time to figure out if they're true. People can read your comments." I asked her what she thought of the fact that this particular article, which was blatantly false, was shared 16,000 times…

Note that when confronted about false stories (which were sourced from white aupremacist propaganda) he retweeted, the President-elect, while still a candidate, responded fairly similarly, so, yeah, it's definitely an attitude that is becoming quite normalized.

It's that combined with the echo chamber effect of their algorithms. I've watched a diverse group of smart and average people across political spectrum this election. Most of them consistently shared unsubstantiated claims or biased media. As expected, their media was always presenting evidence for their side and agsinst the other. Corporate media always did that for maximizing ratings and ad impressions.

However, there's a difference. People often had these discussions face to face with other views visible or at least some consequences for bullshitting. Now, the like-minded naturally group together with Facebook making the others (esp moderates) largely disappear from the feed. Showing them what they wanted to see with convenience of scrolling past opposing beliefs reinforced the echo chambers and false beliefs. That few counterpoints are displayed reinforces it further by creating illusion of false consensus for their side. All the resulting upvotes and shares reinforce the algorithm's effect.

I speculate such things are why the divide seemed so much stronger in this election than before. They need to bump into each other more for the necessary conversations to occur. The tech increases isolation instead. The effects will only get worse over time.

Re: Snowden: Stop Relying on Facebook for Your News

#93

Post by makomk »

anigbrowl wrote: post #64
r00fus wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The correct answer isn't to "switch feeds". It's to just turn it off. I'm happier, more productive and a better dad when I'm not being a feed-junkie. Maybe I'm an outlier.

Yes, but ignoring the news and political changes is kind of a luxury, it means your life is secure enough that you can afford not to pay much attention to any of that stuff because you feel confident it won't affect you personally.

Except that following the feed gives you terrifying news that may affect you personally and isn't true, because no-one dares question it and it spreads rapidly. For example, I happened to take a note of the two most retweeted claims of Trump-related hate crimes I saw right after the election so I could follow what happened with them later - both turned out to be fake.

Re: Snowden: Stop Relying on Facebook for Your News

#94

Post by JacobJans »

hammock wrote: post #91
JacobJans wrote: post #66

I have interacted with several people on Facebook who rely on fake news sources. I pointed out fake news articles several times on one person's Facebook page. She agreed the articles were not true. However, she added "I don't have time to figure out if they're true. People can read your comments." I asked her what she thought of the fact that this particular article, which was blatantly false, was shared 16,000 times…

I don't really go on Facebook. Can you give an example of the type of fake news story you're talking about?

Here's a classic example, though the original website is down, so I linked to the Facebook Debug tool:

https://developers.facebook.com/tools/debug/sharing/?q=http%...

Re: Snowden: Stop Relying on Facebook for Your News

#95

Post by sparkzilla »

JacobJans wrote: post #66

I have interacted with several people on Facebook who rely on fake news sources. I pointed out fake news articles several times on one person's Facebook page. She agreed the articles were not true. However, she added "I don't have time to figure out if they're true. People can read your comments." I asked her what she thought of the fact that this particular article, which was blatantly false, was shared 16,000 times…

My site, Newslines, addresses the fake news problem in a simple way. Our objective over the next few years is to create a news search engine by summarising all of the world's news into timelines. All of the news our crowdsourced team summarises goes through an editorial check before it is posted to the site, so it is extremely difficult to put fake news on the site.

During the summarization process we also strip out all the commentary and bias, resulting in what we hope will be an unbiased news archive of the topic. We have had good results so far, for example, our newsline of "Mattress Girl" [1] is the most unbiased account of her case on the web, despite being curated made from exceptionally biased sources. If you like what we are doing please join us.

[1]http://newslines.org/emma-sulkowicz/

Re: Snowden: Stop Relying on Facebook for Your News

#96

Post by serge2k »

leeleelee wrote: post #8
Spellman wrote: post #2

Right. People just need to leave their bubbles, read from a variety of sources, and not rely on their friends for news. Obviously easier said than done. But personally that's what RSS feeds are great for. Long ago in 2011, there was a lovely TED talk about the possible bubbles forming. https://www.ted.com/talks/eli_pariser_beware_online_filter_b...

People don't want to leave their bubbles, for the fear of uncovering uncomfortable truths. For example, I have friends who flat out refused to read any of the WikiLeaks e-mails that could potentially reveal something bad about Hillary, her campaign, the DNC, or any entity on the left. That's just how some (probably a lot of) people are. When some people encounter something that challenges your pre-existing beliefs, i…

> For example, I have friends who flat out refused to read any of the WikiLeaks e-mails that could potentially reveal something bad about Hillary, her campaign, the DNC, or any entity on the left.

That's because of things like the "spirit dinner" bullshit or an email chain discussing drug pricing being reduced to "HILLARY FOUGHT LOWER DRUG PRICES".

When every single email is apparently awful evil shit then it's hard to differentiate things that are actually bad.

Show me some emails that you actually believe should convince someone not to vote for Clinton. Especially over Trump. Keeping in mind that the screwing around in the Primary isn't enough, and that I'm willing to accept a candidate I don't particularly like all that much.

Re: Snowden: Stop Relying on Facebook for Your News

#97

Post by codyb »

JacobJans wrote: post #66

I have interacted with several people on Facebook who rely on fake news sources. I pointed out fake news articles several times on one person's Facebook page. She agreed the articles were not true. However, she added "I don't have time to figure out if they're true. People can read your comments." I asked her what she thought of the fact that this particular article, which was blatantly false, was shared 16,000 times…

Had the same thing happen where I pointed out something was false to an acquaintance who shares frequently and he said "well we each play our part, thankfully there are people like you" or something to that affect.

The idea that it was my job to screen the bullshit...

I didn't delete my facebook but I did unfollow every person and group on the app and it has been quite pleasurable to have an empty newsfeed.

Re: Snowden: Stop Relying on Facebook for Your News

#98

Post by colmvp »

sxg wrote: post #82
thebooktocome wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Economist carries just as much propaganda as any other political magazine. They're better at hiding it, perhaps.

What publication would you recommend instead if I'm looking for relatively unbiased, fact-based news?

I honestly think it's impossible to find truly unbiased news sources. That being said, at least most trusted biased sources still root their information in facts and have journalistic integrity. I'm not going to throw out NYT, WP, NPR, Vox, WSJ, National Review, etc. just because they lean in particular directions.

If anything, I'd rather have news sources that are widely known to lean a certain side, because then I know their potential bias beforehand, which I can balance it out by reading articles from opposing publications.

Re: Snowden: Stop Relying on Facebook for Your News

#99

Post by JoshMnem »

JacobJans wrote: post #66

I have interacted with several people on Facebook who rely on fake news sources. I pointed out fake news articles several times on one person's Facebook page. She agreed the articles were not true. However, she added "I don't have time to figure out if they're true. People can read your comments." I asked her what she thought of the fact that this particular article, which was blatantly false, was shared 16,000 times…

I've had similar experiences on Facebook. Facts don't matter. Even when linking to proof that something is fake news, the fake news doesn't get removed or addressed.

This article about how Macedonian high school students are behind a lot of the fake news is worth reading:

https://www.buzzfeed.com/craigsilverman/how-macedonia-became...

Re: Snowden: Stop Relying on Facebook for Your News

#100

Post by losteric »

burkaman wrote: post #53
jaredtking wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm in a similar boat as you having quit Facebook several years ago after the revelations about the emotion manipulation experiments they were running. At first I did not understand why people were so polarized about the candidates. Now I'm attributing this mainly to being cut off from Facebook. EDIT: By polarized I mean intense hatred, coming from both sides

Were you also cut off from all forms of media? Even the most neutral sources had stories about how both candidates were the most disliked in history, protests and violence at rallies, etc. Even if you personally didn't have any strong opinions, anyone who even casually followed the news should have understood the general sentiments of the country.

I'm not that poster, but I try to stay well informed while avoiding any kind of spam and mass media. I understood the general sentiment of the country, but I didn't understand why we'd regressed so much. Classic media always promoted some amount of fear, but now it's competing against digital media... a world filled with pandering and blatant lies. There's no more journalistic integrity or accountability.

If knowledge is the life-blood of democracy, America is suffering from leukemia...

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