Social media users tend to share news that confirms their beliefs, even if the news is false

Social media users tend to share news that confirms their beliefs, even if the news is false

If internet users are predisposed to believe false information that confirms their prejudices — and if they enthusiastically take part in spreading conspiracy theories — then falsehoods may be endemic to mass online communication platforms. This issue is more difficult for Facebook, whose algorithms rely heavily on a social signal that comes from what a user’s friends are sharing. If its users promote unreliable information — particularly if it is not easily categorised as “news” — it will spread rapidly….

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Breitbart, Occupy Democrats among list of alleged fake, news sites 

Breitbart, Occupy Democrats among list of alleged fake, news sites 

[Professor] Zimdars puts the news sites into four categories. Category one deals with sites that rely on “outrage culture”, using distorted headlines or misleading information. Category two are sites that “circulate misleading and/or potentially unreliable information.” Category three is for more click-bait type websites that still deliver questionable information. And category four deals with satires news site like The Onion. The satires sites are included into the list because Zimdars thinks they sometimes contribute to the cycle of misinformation. The list includes…

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Media and social media’s “outrage culture”

Media and social media’s “outrage culture”

We have a media system that loves to yell and scream. It is basically its default setting. Forget deliberation and civil discourse, it goes immediately to outrage and cynical condescension, or in other cases, relentless and unprovoked shaming. And we, as the consumers and residents of this culture, have come to confuse all this noise and reaction with action. Psychologists call this the narcotizing dysfunction—when the amount of effort and energy poured into something becomes self-soothing, obliterating any notions of…

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Social media publishing propaganda for profit

Social media publishing propaganda for profit

BuzzFeed News identified more than 100 pro-Trump websites being run from a single town in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Source: How Teens In The Balkans Are Duping Trump Supporters With Fake News – BuzzFeed News As this blog has pointed out, fake news sites are prevalent across the political spectrum. They aim for the emotional response of their target audience – and generate revenue from click through advertising. The young Macedonians who run these sites say they don’t…

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Teens earn $1000s from producing fake news distributed on social media

Teens earn $1000s from producing fake news distributed on social media

A 16-year-old who runs a site called BVAnews.com told him it’s averaging 1 million page views per month. He declined to share revenue figures, but in theory that could translate to tens of thousands of U.S. dollars per year—many times more than Macedonia’s median income. The 16-year-old told Silverman he experimented with pro–Bernie Sanders news during the primary, but found pro-Trump content far more popular on the social network. Source: Facebook Is Fueling an International Boom in Pro-Trump Propaganda

Strawman argument: False quote asserts candidate is an idiot

Strawman argument: False quote asserts candidate is an idiot

Goal: Dr. Ben Carson is an idiot Method: Assertion, Strawman Argument: Fabricate a statement about your opponent and then use that fabrication to argue your opponent is an idiot. Scorecard: Over 36,000 shares within a month of this propaganda item posted online. Snopes.com notes the headline is fiction; Dr. Carson never said what is claimed. Here is the original headline: A political report claimed Dr. Ben Carson said he had no idea how gravity works but asserted climate change is a hoax….

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Social media sucks – pink and red iceberg photos are fakes

Social media sucks – pink and red iceberg photos are fakes

Studying geology is a hobby for me. I subscribe to some FB groups that feature items about geology. However, this post from Geology of the world and the Environment is fake. I fell for it and stupidly shared it into my timeline, tagging my youngest daughter, who is a geologist and microbiologist, seeking her input (she was out of town at the time so I did not get a reply). When I first saw it, I read up on “Watermelon…

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How can we know if the #Wikileaks emails are authentic?

How can we know if the #Wikileaks emails are authentic?

Many years ago, email spam and phishing attacks via email became a big problem. Most such attacks originate from email servers other than the one they pretend to be from. For example, you receive an email that purports to be from the IRS (irs.gov) but in reality, came from a server named irs.gov.uk, located in another country. To detect this, the industry adopted a method to detect fraudulent or altered emails using a concept somewhat like a “digital signature” stamped…

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Social media hoax posts more popular than those with correct information

Social media hoax posts more popular than those with correct information

Researchers examined a selection of social media posts about the Zika virus, looking at posts placed on Facebook for one week in late June. About 12 percent of the posts were classified as misleading. Most of those posts suggested that Zika virus was a way to depopulate developing nations or called the entire disease a hoax. While most of the 200 posts contained useful and credible information, the researchers found that those spreading conspiracy theories or misinformation were most popular….

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“What you see is all there is”

“What you see is all there is”

A popular propaganda method is to give you some information that leads you to a likely incorrect conclusion, but the conclusion the propagandist would like you to reach. The trick works because we see some information in the propaganda message and our brain short circuits and concludes that “What you see is all there is”. We then quickly agree with the message without considering that we have an incomplete picture. The following social media propaganda poster was shared into my timeline…

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