Topic: Fake news
Continuing Our Updates to Trending – Facebook (Jan 25, 2017)
It’s a big day for Facebook news – I’ve already covered the new Facebook Stories feature and ads in Messenger, both of which are being tested. This is the only one that’s been publicly announced by Facebook, however, and it concerns Trending Topics, which appear on the desktop site. The changes are subtle but important – each topic will now come with a headline and a base URL such as foxnews.com, topics will be identified based on broad engagement by multiple publications and not just one, and the same topics will be shown to everyone in the same region rather than personalized. Though Facebook doesn’t explicitly say so (perhaps because it fears a backlash, perhaps because it would be a further acknowledgement of a thorny issue), but all of these can be seen as partial solutions to the fake news issue. Citing specific headlines and publications allows users to see the source and make a judgment about whether it’s a reliable one, prioritizing broad engagement will surface those stories that are widely covered rather than being promoted by a single biased source, and showing the same topics to all users could be seen as an attempt to break through the filter bubble. These all seem like smart changes, assuming Facebook can deliver better on these promises than some of its abortive previous changes to Trending Topics.
via Facebook (more on Techmeme)
Google’s 2016 Bad Ads Report: 1.7 billion ads removed, including fake news ads – Search Engine Land (Jan 25, 2017)
The quality of online advertising continues to be one of the big challenges for any company making a business out of selling ads. Between scams, predatory practices, and more recently fake news (and fake news sites), there are lots of ways online advertising can be abused, and Google reports each year on how it’s clamped down on some of this behavior (the report itself is here). Fake news doesn’t actually get a mention in the report directly – the closest link is sites pretending to be news sites for clicks, and then attempting to sell something such as weight loss products. But we do know that Google also shut down advertising on some fake news sites that were using its ad products in 2017. Draining scammers and predators of funds from Google goes a long way to breaking their business model, so we need to see more of this kind of thing.
How Facebook actually isolates us – CNN (Jan 23, 2017)
This isn’t a new idea – it’s been around at least since Eli Pariser’s Filter Bubble was published in 2012. But this study dives a little deeper and provides a scientific foundation for the claims made. However, it also demonstrates how much of the filtering and bubble behavior on sites like Facebook is really tapping into deeper human tendencies like confirmation bias, of which content shared through the mechanism of a social network is a massive enabler. Though the article doesn’t mention Facebook once beyond the headline, the study itself was focused on Facebook, so these findings are specifically about that specific network, though the patterns would largely apply to others too. Because so many of these features are grounded in fundamental human behaviors, they’re very tough to change too, so although Facebook may share some blame for enabling rather than challenging those tendencies, it’s going to be very tough to change them unless Facebook makes a very deliberate attempt to break up the filter bubbles and actively challenge users with new information that contradicts their existing views, which seems very unlikely.
via How Facebook actually isolates us – CNN
Facebook says it’s going to try to help journalism ‘thrive’ – Recode (Jan 11, 2017)
This news (FB’s own blog post here) should obviously be taken together with the hiring of Campbell Brown as head of news partnerships at Facebook, announced last week. It’s easy to see this as being about the whole fake news story, and there’s an element of that, but this goes much further than that. What’s interesting is the number of value judgments in Facebook’s own post about this – it isn’t neutral here when it comes to fostering news sites, and local news in particular. That’s clearly in its interests, but it goes further than that too. It’s also very sensibly looking at business models beyond display ads for monetizing news content on Facebook, something the industry needs as Facebook becomes the place where many of their readers consume their content.
via Facebook says it’s going to try to help journalism ‘thrive’ – Recode
2016: The Year We Stopped Listening To Big Tech’s Favorite Excuse – BuzzFeed News (Dec 30, 2016)
This is a fantastic post about how tech companies hide behind that identity, and shouldn’t. Facebook is the obvious example that springs to mind, and does seem to be coming around on this point, but it applies to others too. Many tech companies abdicate responsibility, because responsibility means an imperative to act and self-examine, and most importantly to question the assumption tech is always a force for good. We need more of that questioning in 2017.
via 2016: The Year We Stopped Listening To Big Tech’s Favorite Excuse – BuzzFeed News
BuzzFeed editor makes 2017 predictions – Business Insider (Dec 30, 2016)
Fake News is one of several areas where BuzzFeed has done excellent investigative work this year (harassment on Twitter is another), and editor-in-chief Ben Smith thinks we’re in for more in 2017 (I agree). The big question is whether 2017 will eventually see some sort of return to normalcy or whether we’ll see a growing divide between the realities embraced by different groups of people – sadly, I believe it will be the latter.
via BuzzFeed editor makes 2017 predictions – Business Insider
Advertising’s Moral Struggle: Is Online Reach Worth the Hurt? – The New York Times (Dec 26, 2016)
This is an interesting side effect of the fake news phenomenon, coupled with programmatic advertising – marketers advertise indiscriminately, leaving decisions about placement to computers, but this has backfired in the case of both fake news and alt-right news websites. The repercussions will be felt for some time, and will affect Google and many others in the process.
via Advertising’s Moral Struggle: Is Online Reach Worth the Hurt? – The New York Times
Mark Zuckerberg’s Take on What Facebook is Evolves | Josh Constine on Twitter (Dec 23, 2016)
Ever since the US presidential election, Facebook and CEO Mark Zuckerberg have been grappling with what kind of company Facebook is, and its role in the modern world. Zuckerberg’s initial reaction to claims Facebook affected the election was dismissive, but his views seem to be evolving, which is a good thing. Facebook is enormously influential, and needs to recognize that.
Google and Facebook Take Aim at Fake News Sites – The New York Times (Nov 14, 2016)
Much of the attention around fake news and the tech sector has focused on Facebook, because it’s the funnel for so much of the stuff people actually see, and because its algorithms tend to create bubbles in which a false sense of reality can take root relatively unchallenged. However, many of those actually peddling fake news monetize through Google ads, and so Google stepping in to help turn off the revenue spigot for some of these sites should go a long way towards shutting down at least some of them.
via Google and Facebook Take Aim at Fake News Sites – The New York Times
Mark Zuckerberg says it’s ‘extremely unlikely’ fake news on Facebook changed the election outcome – Recode (Nov 13, 2016)
Mark Zuckerberg has continued to resist calls for Facebook to see itself as a media company, and to accept the editorial responsibilities that come with this role. This puts him in conflict with not only much of the rest of the industry and its commentariat but many users too, and it’s a tension that can only be resolved as Zuckerberg and Facebook recognize the product’s evolution and take steps to improve the user experience while reassuring users Facebook won’t abuse its power. That’s a really tough line to walk.
Facebook has repeatedly trended fake news since firing its human editors – The Washington Post (Oct 12, 2016)
This whole incident has been embarrassing for Facebook on a number of levels, reflecting its schizoid approach to its editorial role – on the one hand, it wants to disclaim responsibility for editing or filtering what its users see, and on the other it clearly can’t just leave these tasks to machines. Fake news would end up being an important factor in the presidential election, and it’s a conversation that’s still ongoing.
via Facebook has repeatedly trended fake news since firing its human editors – The Washington Post