Clip shows misinformation still has a home on Facebook

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-48405661

by ghobs91 • 7 years ago

47 41 7 years ago

bbc.com

p0cc• 7 years ago

"a lie will fly around the whole world while the truth is getting its boots on"

- misattributed to Mark Twain, 1921

kodablah• 7 years ago

Geez, is this an op-ed or news? The article goes on and on about it being too late, energizing lies, human instinct, blah blah. It's clearly written to encourage censorship yet it's at a /news URL written by someone with the title of "reporter". Gross.

bqqyz2• 7 years ago

It's the BBC, they are not known for their quality.

ekianjo7• 7 years ago

Misrepresented occurrences such as this are used to energise lies that have bubbled around in the far reaches of the internet for a while, waiting for their moment.

You don't need to wait for the Internet, most large media groups are propaganda tools for their own political side. No need to do any "deep fake", "selective editing" is all that's needed to take things out of context and publish a different narrative based on what you want to portray.

Now the question is, what do we do about propaganda, regardless of the medium?

golemotron• 7 years ago

And what do we do about propaganda that we don't see as propaganda because it reinforces our view of the world.

"One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter" translates to "one person's information is another person's propaganda."

ekianjo7• 7 years ago

It's an insolvable problem, I think, and censorship is certainly not the right way to approach it. I may be wrong, but I believe a combination of 1) severe distrust of any form of media, 2) a healthy dose of criticism, 3) a wide range of sources of information, can somewhat help to reduce the issue. 1) and 2) require proper education, and 3) is about having a healthy journalistic landscape (i.e. lots of viewpoints and many ways to exchange them).

abootstrapper2• 7 years ago

This is not biased news. It is absolutely fake being passed as true. Not Donald Trump’s definition of fake (news you don’t like), but actually not factual. The two are not equivalent. Pizza gate is not real, the earth is not flat, vaccines do not cause autism. These and other false claims are being passed off as facts by a few bad actors and propagated through fake accounts to sow discontent. It’s working, and it has to stop. Facebook, Twitter, and other tech corporations have to put an end to this for the good of humanity, or humanity needs to put an end to these corporations.

wbronitsky2• 7 years ago

It is always deeply ironic to me that unpopular sentiments about censorship are routinely censored on HN (the parent post is getting downvoted, which is censorship here)

ajross4• 7 years ago

Sorry, do you have an example of a "large media group" "selectively editing" a video to make someone look drunk for the purposes of propaganda? Anything equivalent?

This sounds like a clever attempt to "both sides do it" a way out of actually admitting that this video and its pushing by a bunch of partisans (right up to and including the office of the President of the United States) was awful.

You agree this is awful, right?

ekianjo7• 7 years ago

"selectively editing" a video to make someone look drunk

No, I don't have anything that specific in mind, but there's enough examples even in recent history of "selective editing" clearly aimed at taking people down, out of context. And yes, let me say it again, "on both sides".

This is probably driven by the fact that outrage brings views, and views bring money + influence to such media groups, and then it's just an extra step to manufacture outrage for your own benefits. That's why all sides do it: same incentives at play.

insickness3• 7 years ago

Sorry, do you have an example of a "large media group" "selectively editing" a video

You don't have to look too far to see large media groups selectively editing videos, or at least choosing to not display portions of video that exonerate someone. Nicholas Sandmann, the MAGA-hat wearing teen, was said to be part of a group confronting a Native American protester. When you look at the full video, it was the Native American who was confrontational. He walked over into the middle of the group rather than the group confronting him.

kadendogthing5• 7 years ago

most large media groups are propaganda tools for their own political side

No, most "large media groups" are not.

ekianjo7• 7 years ago

I'd welcome an example if you can find a media group that's neutral and factual about everything they cover.

Browun• 7 years ago

In other words, we allow people to post it as a form of expression, but we’re not going to show it at the top of News Feed.

So back to the mantra of, "trust us, we'll show you what you need to know"? I thought that was exactly the attitude that got them in to this mess in the first place?!?

bqqyz2• 7 years ago

I think it's not Facebook's responsibility to censor stuff on that's posted in their network but still:

Whoever receives and watches this video on Facebook is engaged in right-wing groups/pages/circles and was unlikely to vote for Pelosi anyway.

(I'm not American so I don't know who she is, I guess the continuation of Clinton?)

asveikau3• 7 years ago

(I'm not American so I don't know who she is, I guess the continuation of Clinton?)

She has represented San Francisco in the US congress since the late 80s, and has been in national democratic congressional leadership for about 20 years, so, legislative rather than executive.

For that same 20ish years Republicans have been trying to use her as a symbol of vilification in various media or campaign material, in my opinion it's all very over the top.

umvi• 7 years ago

For that same 20ish years Republicans have been trying to use her as a symbol of vilification in various media or campaign material, in my opinion it's all very over the top.

Both sides are guilty of smear campaigns. One little flub or gaffe and a video taking it out of context will start circulating.

Just go to /r/politics if you want examples of the left smearing the right

CJefferson• 7 years ago

Honestly, I believe it is facebook's job to censor.

They already tailor exactly what everyone sees on their feed. If they are going to decide exactly what people see, we can restrict exactly how they do that.

wbronitsky2• 7 years ago

We know it is facebook's job to censor "stuff" because they already do it. Can you put a nude photo on facebook? No, because they censor it. They are already deciding what we get to see and what we don't.

nemild• 7 years ago

For more context, see this piece by Renee DiResta highlighting the difference between free speech and free reach (previously, there was little distinction between the two at Facebook):

https://www.wired.com/story/free-speech-is-not-the-same-as-f...

Clip shows misinformation still has a home on Facebook

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