Snowden: Stop Relying on Facebook for Your News

Post by kebinappies » Thu, Nov 17, 2016, 4:07 AM UTC

ttflee wrote: post #106

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…

For people in China where Facebook is not accessible, however, the same things happen in WeChat, especially in its Moments timeline which more or less resembles the one from Facebook. Fake `news', rumors, (unreliable) hints for health/food and click-baits are just more than popular. WeChat did provide a process to flag inappropriate articles, but people around the age of my parents just won't stop forwarding.

Post by caf » Thu, Nov 17, 2016, 4:15 AM UTC

aswanson wrote: post #206

caf wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would be good to see if that study can be replicated.

"In a series of studies in 2005 and 2006, researchers at the University of Michigan found that when misinformed people, particularly political partisans, were exposed to corrected facts in news stories, they rarely changed their minds. In fact, they often became even more strongly set in their beliefs. Facts, they found, were not curing misinformation. Like an underpowered antibiotic, facts could actually make misinf…

Post by TheSpiceIsLife » Thu, Nov 17, 2016, 4:47 AM UTC

emmfr wrote: post #187

TheSpiceIsLife wrote: post #158

Well all this political talk gives me some ideas. Is it possible, at this stage, for geographically large countries with very large populations to move forward in a coherent way? All of the better places to live, as rated by purchasing power, health, education, what have you, are either geographically small and or have a small population. China, India, Russia, Brazil, USA - all these big places with big pipulations r…

The smaller the population, the higher the variance. Large countries are not bad, they are average. The worst countries, like the best, tend to be small.

Post by dllthomas » Thu, Nov 17, 2016, 5:06 AM UTC

_ea1k wrote: post #197

dllthomas wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This isn't so much directed at you, but this seems a great place to note that there are races on the ballot other than president, usually your local elections will have a bigger impact on your day-to-day life than the national ones, and your vote carries orders of magnitude more weight. Pay attention down-ballot!

In my district, the margins on those were even larger than the presidential margins. I still voted, but the outcomes were all very predictable here.

Post by nickpsecurity » Thu, Nov 17, 2016, 5:20 AM UTC

grzm wrote: post #125

nickpsecurity wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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, th…

It would be really nice if you wouldn't consistently post such balanced comments as they're doing nothing to reinforce the polarization, anger, and frustration we find so vital to drive engagement, page views, clicks, and time on site. "The effects will only get worse over time." I'm trying to think of comparable societal changes that we've been able to reverse at least sufficiently ameliorate. My imagination (and kn…