The Trouble With Fake News Filters
By
Staten Island, NY Posted: 5/3/2017 1:00:00 AM
Fake news filters sound like the solution to Fake News on Facebook. I don't think so.
Facebook is hoping to cut down on Fake News by adding new a way for people to report Fake news. While that sounds like a good idea, I think it will create more trouble than its worth.
Over the past few years, the Internet has been flooded with so-called "Fake News", which dominate social media sites like Twitter and Facebook. In an effort to curb the spread, Facebook is working on a way for people to report Fake News stories when they see them. If enough people report a post as Fake News, its eliminated from their News Feed.
Sounds simple enough. What can go wrong? Quite a bit, actually.
My biggest concern is that people will abuse the option, and report any story they don't agree with as fake news, even if it's backed up by a legitimate source. Don't agree with the Progressive or Conservative tone of a news story? Report it as fake. Don't like stories about Climate Change or oil drilling? Report it as fake. As time goes by, what stories will appear in your feed will be based entirely on how few people they offend. That's okay. I love cat videos.
My second concern is that it could also hurt "Legitimate Fake News"... that is to say Parody News, like The Onion, who intentionally create fake news stories for comedic purposes. I think the solution for this is for publishers to specifically tag their own stories as "Parody", so they can bypass the filters. That said, they should be labeled as such, so that the people who don't realize its a parody won't be confused.
Joe Crescenzi, Founder
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