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posted by cmn32480 on Wednesday October 04 2017, @12:17PM   Printer-friendly
from the that-didn't-work-out-quite-like-we-hoped dept.

Google has apologized on behalf of its algorithm(s), which promoted a fake news story identifying the wrong man as the recent Las Vegas shooter:

After yesterday's mass shooting in Las Vegas, Google briefly gave its "Top Stories" stamp of approval to two 4chan threads identifying (and triumphantly smearing) the wrong man as the shooter. Google apologized for including "inaccurate" web pages in its top results, saying that its algorithm had spotted a burst of activity around a little-used search term (the name of 4chan's so-called suspect), created a Top Stories carousel, and favored "fresh" content there above more authoritative sources.

This is far from the first time Google's search results have purveyed misinformation. In March, it finally instructed human quality raters — who manually evaluate web pages to train the Search algorithm — to flag offensive and factually incorrect material, which Search could then downgrade for users seeking general information about a topic. As the 4chan incident shows, though, it still has blind spots. And that's not really because of a problem with Google's algorithm. It's happening because Google's core business has never been about defining truth — yet that's what Top Stories is implicitly promising.

Facebook also promoted the "fresh" content:

[A] story by the pro-Trump political website "The Gateway Pundit" named a different person as the shooter, citing a Facebook page to claim the individual was "a far left loon" and "a Democrat who liked (MSNBC host) Rachel Maddow." Posters on the anonymous, anarchic 4chan.org forum likewise trumpeted supposed findings that the same individual was both the shooter and a "social democrat." BuzzFeed saved screenshots of the stories, which no longer turn up on either Gateway Pundit or 4chan.

[...] Facebook said its security team removed Gateway Pundit results and other similar posts from its social network, some within minutes. But because that removal was "delayed," the company said, images of the incorrect story were captured and circulated online.

"We are working to fix the issue that allowed this to happen in the first place and deeply regret the confusion this caused," a Facebook spokesman said in a statement.

Also at BBC.

Previously: Over 50 dead in mass shooting in Las Vegas


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  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by ilsa on Wednesday October 04 2017, @05:00PM (2 children)

    by ilsa (6082) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday October 04 2017, @05:00PM (#577099)

    We are in the middle of the information age where information, including blatant lies, can be created and disseminated in the blink of an eye. That means no single news source can be considered trustworthy because everyone has their own biases. And this is ignoring sources that actually go out of their way to twist facts to an absurd degree.

    The only solution is that people need to look at multiple sources if they want the facts of any given story. And when I say multiple sources, they have to be wide on the spectrum, and international if possible. You also have to evaluate the sources themselves. How often have they been wrong? How often have they demonstrably misconstrued the facts? Are they presenting facts, or are they trying to appeal to your emotions? This last one is a big red flag as to the objectivity of the source.

    Anything else risks getting trapped in an echo chamber to some degree or another.

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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by captain normal on Wednesday October 04 2017, @09:12PM

    by captain normal (2205) on Wednesday October 04 2017, @09:12PM (#577188)

    "A lie can travel around the world while truth is still lacing it's shoes".

    --
    When life isn't going right, go left.
  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 05 2017, @01:32AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 05 2017, @01:32AM (#577266)

    With media consolidation (Thanks, Ronnie Raygun and Slick Willie), it's increasingly difficult within the realm of Lamestream Media.
    Some places have -only- 1 megacorporation's "news" outlets from which to chose.

    I find that places which vet the various sources then report a bit later do a better job.
    (The list up in the thread contains several of my favs.)

    -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]