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: 2) by jcross on Friday November 18 2016, @07:21PM
I'm curious whether we know that google was directly behind the youtube behavior, or if it could have been created by an angry mob (or opposition campaign staff) clicking some "report content" button? Obviously the fact that the feature is easy to abuse would be a problem in the latter case, but at least it's equally abusable against anyone, although google could magnify any specific abuse by being slow to review and clear the content. I just thought it sounded similar to DMCA takedown abuse, but I'm not familiar with the specifics of this case.