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+36 +1
'Fake News' Now Means Whatever People Want It To Mean, And Legislating It Away Is A Slippery Slope Toward Censorship
The discussion about "fake news" certainly began with good intentions, with participants earnestly focused on how disinformation, shitty journalism and bullshit clickbait were filling the noggins of a growing segment of the public for whom critical thinking was already a Sisyphean endeavor. The solution for this problem was never as clean and easy as most of the conversations suggested, especially given that Americans...
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+16 +1
Donald Trump hates anonymous sources - except when he acts as one
Less than a week after President Donald Trump publicly attacked journalists for using anonymous sources in stories about his administration, it appears the president become one himself on Tuesday - at least briefly. Three television anchors, shortly after attending from a White House lunch meeting with the president, emerged to report news on the president's belief that the time may be right for immigration reform. Fox News Channel's Bret Baier, and CNN's Wolf Blitzer and Jake Tapper, attributed the news to a “senior administration official.” ABC's George Stephanopoulos, in a tweet, sourced it to a “WH official.”
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+1 +1
China is branding a report it doesn't like 'fake news'
Chinese state media has said that a prominent Chinese rights activist had made up “fake news” of torture to grab international headlines, but his defenders said the accusations were a coordinated attempt to smear his name. State media said disbarred lawyer Jiang Tianyong, 46, was behind news reports of police torturing another detained rights activist, Xie Yang, and that Jiang had later admitted to telling Xie’s wife to make up details of torture in captivity to attract attention to the case.
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-2 +1
Ireland's "MASS GRAVES" story is fake news!
Bill Donohue comments on news stories that Catholic nuns in Ireland housed a mass grave of babies: It was a lie in 2014 and it is a lie in 2017. There is no evidence of a mass grave outside a home for unmarried women operated by nuns in Tuam, Ireland, near Galway, in the 20th century. The hoax is now back again, and an obliging media are running with the story as if it were true.
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+16 +1
The Face of Terrorism Wants His Life Back
When Anas Modamani found out that the internet had labeled him a terrorist, he was visiting his cousin in eastern Germany. It was a few days before Modamani’s 19th birthday, in March of last year, and the trip was supposed to be a respite from language classes and long waits at the refugee center in Berlin—the usual rhythm of life since Modamani had immigrated from Syria seven months earlier. But when he logged into Facebook, he saw that a friend had sent him a disturbing message.
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+43 +1
This is now what happens when you try to post fake news on Facebook
This story has not been disputed.
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+10 +1
Facebook just made it harder for you to share fake news
Facebook has started to roll out a new tool in its war against fake news which facts check the stories you post, although it doesn’t yet appear for everyone.
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+22 +1
Facebook targets 30,000 fake France accounts before election
Facebook says it has targeted 30,000 fake accounts linked to France ahead of the country's presidential election, as part of a worldwide effort against misinformation. The company said Thursday it's trying to "reduce the spread of material generated through inauthentic activity, including spam, misinformation, or other deceptive content that is often shared by creators of fake accounts." It said its efforts "enabled us to take action" against the French accounts and that it is removing sites with the highest traffic.
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+9 +1
Norwegian media competitors join forces in war against fake news
One of the sucky legacies of 2016 is the surge of fake news. Donald Trump rode a wave of misinformation to the White House and British voters shot themselves in the foot after listening to the false promises of Brexit. Norway is one of the countries that isn’t especially keen on following the fuckups of the US and UK by letting lies slide. That’s why Norway’s three biggest competing media outlets announced a joint project to combat fake news.
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+15 +1
Greek yogurt giant Chobani sues Alex Jones over allegedly fake stories
Greek yogurt giant Chobani filed a lawsuit Monday against right-wing radio host Alex Jones, accusing the conspiracy theorist of publishing false information about the company. Chobani says that Jones and his Infowars website posted fabricated stories earlier this month that linked Chobani owner Hamdi Ulukaya and the company to a sexual assault case involving refugee children. The company filed the lawsuit in Idaho District Court in Twin Falls, where it operates the largest yogurt plant in the world.
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+37 +1
The NY Times promised to fact check their new climate denier columnist — they lied
Times’ news staff trashes column on Twitter, while top scientist says paper is “willingly abetting climate change denialism.” By Joe Romm.
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+10 +1
Trump Gives Press Pass To ‘Alt-Right’ Racist Frog Lunatic (We Mean Again)
We old-timers (online since 1987) don’t know what to make of these kids and their Inter Webs anymore. By Doktor Zoom.
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+30 +1
Facebook promised to tackle fake news. But the evidence shows it's not working
When Facebook’s new fact-checking system labeled a Newport Buzz article as possible “fake news”, warning users against sharing it, something unexpected happened. Traffic to the story skyrocketed, according to Christian Winthrop, editor of the local Rhode Island website. “A bunch of conservative groups grabbed this and said, ‘Hey, they are trying to silence this blog – share, share share,’” said Winthrop, who published the story that falsely claimed hundreds of thousands of Irish people were brought to the US as slaves. “With Facebook trying to throttle it and say, ‘Don’t share it,’ it actually had the opposite effect.”
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+10 +1
‘People want it to be true’
Inside the growing influence of a mysterious anti-Trump website. By Pamela Engel.
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+18 +1
Exclusive: House Science Committee members just sent a letter to President Trump insisting he stop relying on fake news
Members of the House of Representative Committee on Science, Space & Technology—including representative Don Beyer, Jacky Rosen, Mark Takano, and a number of other Democrats—have signed and submitted a letter to President Trump expressing concern over the President's methods of receiving scientific information. The letter states that by failing to appoint a qualified director to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy or adequately staff the department....
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+1 +1
Breitbart’s coverage of a Canadian pro-Trump rally relies on some alternative facts
A pro-Trump, anti-Trudeau rally on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Saturday attracted only a small crowd of demonstrators protesting “against Trudope and his tyranny,” but that didn’t stop far-right website Breitbart from claiming that “a group of up to 5,000” had shown up. The rally, dubbed the “million Canadian march,” was advertised by organizer Mike Waine as a protest against M-103, a motion calling on the Canadian government to condemn Islamophobia; and as a call on the Governor General to remove Prime Minister Justin Trudeau from office.
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+25 +1
How Russian Propaganda Spread From a Parody Website to Fox News
A false report claiming a Russian warplane took out the communications systems of an American warship spread with alarming ease.
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+47 +1
A Time Magazine with Trump on the cover hangs in his golf clubs. It’s fake.
It’s not clear who created the image or why, but it is displayed prominently at some of his properties.
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+26 +1
The strange case of Fox News, Trump and the death of young Democrat Seth Rich
The revelation that Fox News made contact with the White House over a false and malicious story could spell trouble for the network – and the president.
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+50 +1
First Evidence That Social Bots Play a Major Role in Spreading Fake News
Automated accounts are being programmed to spread fake news, according to the first systematic study of the way online misinformation spreads
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