Snowden: Stop Relying on Facebook for Your News • Hacker News Board

Re: Snowden: Stop Relying on Facebook for Your News

#171

Post by readme » Thu, Nov 17, 2016, 2:24 AM UTC

edgyswingset wrote: post #112

JoshMnem wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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...

This has me deeply, deeply concerned. The election is one thing, but what happens if/when elected officials start screwing with something like Social Security, resulting in a generation of people who had their tax dollars deferred, but saw no benefit when they retired? In a post-fact world, I'm not convinced that the people will take action against such a thing.

I've already long assumed that my social security benefits will not be there.

I envy your optimism.

Re: Snowden: Stop Relying on Facebook for Your News

#172

Post by takeda » Thu, Nov 17, 2016, 2:25 AM UTC

JacobJans wrote: post #94

hammock wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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%...

Is there a way to take maybe a screenshot for people who don't use facebook?

Re: Snowden: Stop Relying on Facebook for Your News

#173

Post by serge2k » Thu, Nov 17, 2016, 2:26 AM UTC

fixxer wrote: post #115

serge2k wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would drastically reduce the voting power of several red states. Only recently (since 2000) has the EC being different than the popular vote been a problem. Both times it's gone in the republicans favour. It would definitely be radical change though.

Kind of a small sample size, right? I guess I'm hesitant to change the political dynamic of a nation based on just that.

There are other good reasons too.

The system isn't fair, voters in low pop states have more power than california.

The system emphasizes swing states above others, as the country is so split right now.

The system is worse for third party candidates (especially if a STV or ranked system was used. This would also please the Bernie or bust folk).

The system is outdated, it was meant to have a group of well informed electors make the decision about who is president. This doesn't makes sense anymore as the electors are pretty much bound to the will of the states popular vote, and people have access to more information. Plus the whole safeguard against someone unqualified idea has been tossed out the window now anyway.

Re: Snowden: Stop Relying on Facebook for Your News

#174

Post by y_u_no_rust » Thu, Nov 17, 2016, 2:38 AM UTC

jayess wrote: post #111

I miss the myspace days when we just modified our profiles and chatted with each other. There was no "news feed." Facebook was unbearable before the election, I stopped logging in more than once a week just to check on family. I don't care what anyone's opinion of the day is on the political issue of the day.

it drove me off reedit entirely

Re: Snowden: Stop Relying on Facebook for Your News

#175

Post by OJFord » Thu, Nov 17, 2016, 2:38 AM UTC

sedachv wrote: post #154

yosito wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think those technologies are well suited to this problem at all. I was just talking to some Swiss journalists last night. You know what Swiss news organizations are using those technologies for? To make their writing more "engaging", i.e. more sensationalist, not for fact-checking.

> I don't think those technologies are well suited to this problem at all. How so? Deciding whether news is fake or not seems like a textbook application of natural language classification and search.

I haven't read any textbooks on the subject (I don't mean that facetiously) - what would this look like? Because it seems to me that to such an algorithm virality ~ legitimacy.

Re: Snowden: Stop Relying on Facebook for Your News

#176

Post by ridgeguy » Thu, Nov 17, 2016, 2:40 AM UTC

billions wrote: post #160

JoshMnem wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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...

It is a reflection of real world behavior. Before Facebook, people spread similarly wild rumors via word of mouth.

And now at scale. Illustrates the old saying "quantity has a quality all its own".

Re: Snowden: Stop Relying on Facebook for Your News

#177

Post by tomrod » Thu, Nov 17, 2016, 2:43 AM UTC

joshmn wrote: post #119

The last 12 months I have visited Snopes more times than not in order to disprove some of the articles my Facebook friends choose to share. It's slightly alarming that people don't think they need to fact check. You know it's bad when the President-elect opens up about his internet fact checking[0]. It sets a dangerous precedent. There are less intelligent people in this world who read deeply into these "articles" an…

> What can we do? Upvotes/downvotes? Won't work at scale, because likes/shares have a connotation of legitimacy.

I think you just explained some very popular subreddits, in addition to a lot of the extreme political fake-news issues on facebook.

Re: Snowden: Stop Relying on Facebook for Your News

#178

Post by DougN7 » Thu, Nov 17, 2016, 2:44 AM UTC

eternalban wrote: post #155

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…

We don't really have an independent press anymore, and blog-sphere can be trivially gamed by interested and powerful actors. Have we as a civilization ever witnessed such a pervasive disinformation culture? I forget who said this, possibly a character in Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, but the idea was that when a population perceives that the social order is unfair (due to bad faith power actors) the genera…

When I put on my rose-colored glasses and look back at the past (1950s??) it seems that lying was very much looked down upon. Not so much any more. Seems like it's 'anything goes that you can get away with'. Is this because we're not teaching ethics in school? Decline in churches? Apathy from feeling helpless?

Re: Snowden: Stop Relying on Facebook for Your News

#179

Post by vvvv » Thu, Nov 17, 2016, 2:50 AM UTC

readme wrote: post #171

edgyswingset wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This has me deeply, deeply concerned. The election is one thing, but what happens if/when elected officials start screwing with something like Social Security, resulting in a generation of people who had their tax dollars deferred, but saw no benefit when they retired? In a post-fact world, I'm not convinced that the people will take action against such a thing.

I've already long assumed that my social security benefits will not be there. I envy your optimism.

Me too. I resent the taxes I pay because of that.

Re: Snowden: Stop Relying on Facebook for Your News

#180

Post by icanhackit » Thu, Nov 17, 2016, 2:51 AM UTC

Facebook reminds me of a Dave Chappelle sketch, If The Internet Was A Real Place [1]. But instead of a world filled with porn stores and free CDs, Facebook World is where you have used car salesmen peddling ideology and breaking news, libraries filled with mirrors but no books, where humans lack filters for their compulsion to say something – like a Tourette's syndrome for half formed thoughts. Where they’ll yell shit at you like “Your dog’s ears are wow!” and then finish with a racist tirade.

If you want anything positive: happiness, a sense of contentedness, intellectual enlightenment, more time - ditch it. The odd gem shows up there, but even garbage tips and sewers are home to a few wedding rings and gold wristwatches.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91YpZe1SmNg