{"id":873,"date":"2016-10-14T20:51:46","date_gmt":"2016-10-14T20:51:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rsoftsolution.com\/blog\/google-added-fact-checking-facebook-its-your-move-now.html"},"modified":"2016-10-14T20:51:46","modified_gmt":"2016-10-14T20:51:46","slug":"google-added-fact-checking-facebook-its-your-move-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rbsitsoftwaresolution.in\/blog\/google-added-fact-checking-facebook-its-your-move-now.html","title":{"rendered":"Google added fact checking: Facebook, it\u2019s your move now"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

Google yesterday announced it\u00a0will introduce a fact check tag on Google News <\/a>in order to display\u00a0articles that contain factual information next to trending news items. Now it\u2019s time for Facebook to take fact-checking more seriously, too.<\/p>\n

Facebook has\u00a0stepped into the role of being today\u2019s newspaper: that is, it\u2019s a single destination where a large selection of news articles are displayed to those who visit its site. Yes, they appear amidst personal photos, videos, status updates, and ads, but Facebook is still the place\u00a0where nearly half of American adults<\/a> get their news.<\/p>\n

Facebook has a responsibility to do better, then, when it comes to informing this audience what is actually news: what is fact-checked, reported, vetted, legitimate news, as opposed to a rumor, hoax or conspiracy theory.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not okay that Facebook fired its news editors<\/a> in an effort to appear impartial, deferring only to its algorithms to inform readers what\u2019s trending on the site. Since then, the site has repeatedly trended fake news stories, according to a Washington Post report <\/a>released earlier this week.<\/p>\n

The news organization tracked every news story that trended across four accounts during the workday from August 31 to September 22, and found that Facebook trended five stories that were either \u201cindisputably fake\u201d or \u201cprofoundly inaccurate.\u201d It also regularly featured press releases, blog posts, and links to online stores, like iTunes \u2013 in other words, trends that didn\u2019t point to news sites.<\/p>\n

Facebook claimed in September<\/a> that it would roll out technology that would combat fake stories in its Trending topics, but clearly that has not yet come to pass \u2013 or the technology isn\u2019t up to the task at hand.<\/p>\n

In any event, Facebook needs to do better.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not enough for the company to merely reduce the visibility of obvious\u00a0hoaxes from its News Feed<\/a>\u00a0\u2013\u00a0not when so much of the content that circulates on the site is posted by people \u2013 your friends and family \u2013 \u00a0right on their profiles,\u00a0which you visit directly.<\/p>\n

Plus, the more the items are shared, the more they have the potential to go viral. And viral news becomes Trending news, which\u00a0is then presented all Facebook\u2019s users in that region.<\/p>\n

This matters. Facebook has trended a story from\u00a0a tabloid news source<\/a>\u00a0that claimed 9\/11 was an inside job<\/a>\u00a0involving planted bombs. It ran a fake story about Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly<\/a> which falsely claimed she was fired. These aren\u2019t mistakes: they are disinformation.<\/p>\n

Facebook has apologized for the above, but declined to comment to The Washington Post regarding its new findings <\/a>that fake news continues to be featured on the platform.<\/p>\n

In addition, not only does Facebook fail at vetting its Trending news links, it also has no way of flagging the links that fill its site.<\/p>\n

Outside of Trending,\u00a0Facebook continues to be filled with inaccurate, poorly-sourced, or outright fake news stories, rumors and hoaxes. Maybe you\u2019re seeing less of them in the News Feed, but there\u2019s nothing to prevent a crazy friend\u00a0from commenting\u00a0on your post\u00a0with a link to a well-known hoax site, as if it\u2019s news. There\u2019s no tag or label. They get to pretend they\u2019re sharing facts.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, there\u2019s no way for your to turn off commenting on your own posts, even when the discussion devolves into something akin to \u201csexual assault\u00a0victims are liars\u201d (to reference a recent story<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

Because perish the thought that\u00a0Facebook would turn of the one mechanism that triggers repeat visits to its site, even if that means it would rather trigger traumatic recollections on the parts of its users instead.<\/p>\n

There is<\/em> a difference between a post that\u2019s based on fact-checked articles, and a post from a website funded by an advocacy group.\u00a0There\u2019s a difference between Politifact and some guy\u2019s personal blog. Facebook displays\u00a0them both equally, though: here\u2019s a headline, a photo, some summary text.<\/p>\n

Of course, it would be a difficult job for a company that only wants to focus on social networking and selling ads to get into the media business \u2013 that\u2019s why Facebook loudly proclaims it\u2019s \u201cnot a media company.\u201d\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Except that it is one. It\u2019s serving that role, whether it wants to or not.<\/p>\n

Google at least has stepped up to the plate and is trying to find a solution. Now it\u2019s Facebook\u2019s turn.<\/p>\n

Facebook may have only unintentionally become a media organization, but it is one. And it\u2019s doing a terrible job.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Article source: http:\/\/feedproxy.google.com\/~r\/techcrunch\/social\/~3\/NjeVhCf3r50\/<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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