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Bad Idea or the Worst Idea? Having the FTC Regulate "Fake News"

posted by FatPhil on Monday February 06 2017, @09:17PM   Printer-friendly
from the is-there-an-all-fake-news-sites-are-liars-paradox dept.

TheMightyBuzzard brings us this jaunty tale about the spectre of censorship:

Over the last few months, we've talked about the weird obsession some people upset by the results of the election have had with the concept of "fake news." We warned that focusing on "fake news" as a problem was not just silly and pointless, but that it would quickly morph into calls for censorship. And, even worse, that censorship power would be in the hands of whoever got to define what "fake news" was.

Source: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20170201/23481336610/bad-idea-worst-idea-having-ftc-regulate-fake-news.shtml

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  • (Score: 2) by n1 on Tuesday February 07 2017, @02:33AM

    by n1 (993) on Tuesday February 07 2017, @02:33AM (#463851) Journal

    I wasn't supporting zerohedge analysis or conclusion, just highlighting it as the counter argument to the 'polls'

    zerohedge used to have a decent article every so often, but since the election they are just a PR department for the new administration and are making some serious leaps in logic and ignoring issues they would have been all over months ago, just so they can keep pushing Trump.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 07 2017, @02:51AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 07 2017, @02:51AM (#463856)

    There's gotta be a better source for a counterpoint.
    Or, if there isn't then maybe there is no legitimate counterpoint...

    There have been some decent analyses of polling failures recently, like these:
    (the last one in particular explains differential non-response and it did so before the election)

    The “spiral of silence”: how pollsters got the Colombia-FARC peace deal vote so wrong - Vox
    http://www.vox.com/world/2016/10/6/13175608/polls-colombia-farc-peace-deal-vote-wrong [vox.com]

    Can You Trust Trump’s Approval Rating Polls? | FiveThirtyEight
    https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/can-you-trust-polling-in-the-age-of-trump/ [fivethirtyeight.com]

    Poll aggregators seem to be killing off actual polling - Vox
    http://www.vox.com/2016/11/2/13496432/2016-polls [vox.com]

    Be skeptical when polls show the presidential race swinging wildly - Vox
    http://www.vox.com/the-big-idea/2016/11/6/13540646/poll-shifts-misleading-clinton-leads-trump [vox.com]