Google and Facebook finally announced steps to tackle fake news on their respective platforms this week following increasing pressure from critics eager to halt the flow of falsehoods online.
Both companies said they will prohibit fake news websites from advertising on their platforms, thus reducing the exposure of such articles to the public while also starving the companies of an important source of advertising income.
The move comes after the companies received a wave of criticism over its role in propagating misinformation, particularly in this election cycle in which many observed that a bitter partisan war was potentially worsened by polarizing news sources touting untrue assertions. While the technology companies have in the past been hesitant to mediate the flow of news, this change might signal a change in thought as they come to grip with the real-life implications of lackluster surveillance on their platforms.
Wrongthink will not be permitted, citizens.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 18 2016, @08:29PM
Please explain to me what the difference between "fake news" and "real news" is, and why is it just a problem now even though tabloids have been around for decades?
What is the difference between what I regard as "real news," and YOU regard as "real news?" I've seen heaps of "fake news" about the Syrian War reported by CNN et al. yet have seen heaps of "real news" (i.e., eyewitness testimony and actual video) about the Syrian War from Twitter accounts (unless, of course, it's a fabrication and is, indeed, "fake news").
So what makes it "real" or "false?" Help me out here.
(Score: 2) by PocketSizeSUn on Friday November 18 2016, @09:33PM
Real: What the current establishment wants you to think.
Fake: Stuff that runs counter to the above narrative.
HTH