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Consider the following contradiction: Supposedly, fake Facebook accounts (which appear real) engage with "fake news" in order to fool real Facebook users. Then,

Consider the following contradiction: Supposedly, fake Facebook accounts (which appear real) engage with "fake news" in order to fool real Facebook users. Then, the engagement of such articles is measured. That is, these articles are spread by bots so that it appears like the articles are being read by a wide swath of the population. Then, analyzers like Buzzfeed measure the activity of the fake news articles and count the total number of "engagement" activities, which includes both the fake and real engagement. They claim that this is evidence that people are spreading fake news -- but how can we know how many real people actually read (or believed) the content? Next, they mention that fake news results in a change in people's perceptions. They say: > It can be considered a form of cognitive hacking12—except that the modification of a user’s perception is the goal of the operation, not a means for gaining access to a network. Serious? They think that people reading an article are going to immediately believe it? This idea sounds a lot like the beliefs in the 1920's that media could "inject" false beliefs into humans: > Hypodermic needle model, or magic bullet theory: Considers the audience to be targets of an injection or bullet of information fired from the pistol of mass media. The audience are unable to avoid or resist the injection or bullets. However, we now know that people are not passive consumers of media: they are often very critical. If we were to categorize the engagement of fake news in order of proportion of observed engagement acts: 1. bots (not real people, not influenced, largest proportion) 2. curious but critical people (real people, but not influenced) 3. people whose beliefs are changed (real people, real influence, smallest proportion) Finally, to prove that fake news can be damaging, they use examples where Spirit Airlines and American Airlines were damaged by real news: > For example, shares in the American ultra-low-cost carrier (ULCC) Spirit Airlines fell 5% the day after videos of passenger fist fights due to cancelled flights15 made the rounds on social media. When United Airlines forcibly removed16 a passenger from a flight in April 2017, its stock price fell17 as well. If you're going to claim that 1) fake news is a huge problem, 2) that fake news affects people's perceptions, and 3) that fake news affects the organizations targeted, then why do you: 1. not show concrete examples of fake news? 2. not show that people's beliefs are affected by that fake news? 3. and show that targeted organizations are affected by people's beliefs? Sorry, but this paper isn't really rooted in fact. I'd go so far as to say that it's more or less fake news.

jacquesm 9y ago
Think of it along the lines of fake testimonials. Fake engagement drives real engagement.
Spooky23 9y ago
People are passive consumers of media and are easily manipulated when given a story that jives with some general belief that they have. A great example of this effect is the aftermath of the Sandy Hook shootings. Question 1: Alex Jones, a talk show host who has a growing niche following, including the current President, pushed a narrative that despite the dead kids, identified shooter, etc this massacre of young children was a "false flag" hoax. Details: https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2017/06/13/here-exactly-what-alex-jones-has-said-about-sandy-hook-massacre/216889 https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2017/06/13/here-exactly-wh... Question 2: According to a Newsmax poll, 24% of people surveyed believed that Sandy Hook was or may have possibly been a hoax. http://www.newsmax.com/t/newsmax/article/752850?section=Politics&keywords=voters-believe-conspiracy-theories-trump&year=2016&month=10&date=11&id=752850&aliaspath=%2FManage%2FArticles%2FTemplate-Main&oref=www.google.com http://www.newsmax.com/t/newsmax/article/752850?section=Poli... Question 3: This kind of malicious misinformation makes the weak minded dangerous and can influence policy. Case in point: Parent of murdered Sandy Hook kindergartner threatened by nutjob from Florida. https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdfl/pr/tampa-area-resident-indicted-threatening-sandy-hook-parent https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdfl/pr/tampa-area-resident-ind... Case in point: Gun advocacy groups get the benefit of angry anti-gun control people mobilized to push for concealed carry and even mandatory arming of school officials. Other examples abound. The Gulf of Tonkin incident is a great example at the nation state level. There's always a reason. In the case of Gulf of Tonkin, LBJ wanted to escalate the Vietnam Conflict. The the case of Alex Jones, he wants to undermine your faith in society to make you buy his vitamins. In the case of the "pizza gate" faux scandal, parties unknown wanted Clinton voters to stay home or vote Trump.
nl 9y ago
The airline thing was showing who social media can shift stock prices. It was not included as an example of fake news. The document is full of examples of fake news from all around the world, including screen shots. It's unusual you'd claim otherwise.

jacquesm 9y ago

Think of it along the lines of fake testimonials. Fake engagement drives real engagement.

Spooky23 9y ago

People are passive consumers of media and are easily manipulated when given a story that jives with some general belief that they have. A great example of this effect is the aftermath of the Sandy Hook shootings. Question 1: Alex Jones, a talk show host who has a growing niche following, including the current President, pushed a narrative that despite the dead kids, identified shooter, etc this massacre of young children was a "false flag" hoax. Details: https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2017/06/13/here-exactly-what-alex-jones-has-said-about-sandy-hook-massacre/216889 https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2017/06/13/here-exactly-wh... Question 2: According to a Newsmax poll, 24% of people surveyed believed that Sandy Hook was or may have possibly been a hoax. http://www.newsmax.com/t/newsmax/article/752850?section=Politics&keywords=voters-believe-conspiracy-theories-trump&year=2016&month=10&date=11&id=752850&aliaspath=%2FManage%2FArticles%2FTemplate-Main&oref=www.google.com http://www.newsmax.com/t/newsmax/article/752850?section=Poli... Question 3: This kind of malicious misinformation makes the weak minded dangerous and can influence policy. Case in point: Parent of murdered Sandy Hook kindergartner threatened by nutjob from Florida. https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdfl/pr/tampa-area-resident-indicted-threatening-sandy-hook-parent https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdfl/pr/tampa-area-resident-ind... Case in point: Gun advocacy groups get the benefit of angry anti-gun control people mobilized to push for concealed carry and even mandatory arming of school officials. Other examples abound. The Gulf of Tonkin incident is a great example at the nation state level. There's always a reason. In the case of Gulf of Tonkin, LBJ wanted to escalate the Vietnam Conflict. The the case of Alex Jones, he wants to undermine your faith in society to make you buy his vitamins. In the case of the "pizza gate" faux scandal, parties unknown wanted Clinton voters to stay home or vote Trump.

nl 9y ago

The airline thing was showing who social media can shift stock prices. It was not included as an example of fake news. The document is full of examples of fake news from all around the world, including screen shots. It's unusual you'd claim otherwise.