4 ms·

This is really interesting. I wonder how it will effect Pages that are known for sarcastic/satire type of content on purpose. Pages like The Onion, Hard Times,

This is really interesting. I wonder how it will effect Pages that are known for sarcastic/satire type of content on purpose. Pages like The Onion, Hard Times, etc. I feel like there would have to be a lot of work in the fact-checking part of this. At what point will it be too manual of a process, or will the algorithm start to fail on these "grey" areas? Also, it's nice to see Facebook implement a feature solely for the user that could be costing them ad money.

samstr 9y ago
Maybe we'll see a 'SATIRE' label for these types of articles in the feed.
ceejayoz 9y ago
They played with flagging satirical articles back in 2014: http://mashable.com/2014/08/17/facebook-satire-tag/ http://mashable.com/2014/08/17/facebook-satire-tag/
- StephenMelon 9y ago
  I see a lot of comments on satire links that clearly demonstrate that large numbers of people can’t always spot satire. That possibly says more about the current cultural and political climate than it does about people’s gullibility though.
  - ceejayoz 9y ago
    As an example: a sitting Congressman thought The Onion's "Planned Parenthood Opens $8 Billion Abortionplex" was a believable headline. https://www.yahoo.com/news/blogs/sideshow/congressman-thought-parody-article-planned-parenthood-real-113439270.html https://www.yahoo.com/news/blogs/sideshow/congressman-though...
  - pavel_lishin 9y ago
    > current I don't think the current situation is all that different from 2005, when Poe's Law was coined.
  - ctdonath 9y ago
    It's not Facebook's job to spot satire or fakes for people. Users expect a "common carrier" type experience, not news curation.
    - ceejayoz 9y ago
      Facebook has over two billion users. "Users expect" a wide variety of different things, and I suspect if you polled them there'd be plenty who expect Facebook to do some curation, particularly in the "trending topics" sort of area.
samstave 9y ago
Don't forget this infamous onion revelation, way before Snowden: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJ380SHZvYU https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJ380SHZvYU
- pdkl95 9y ago
  Another infamous Onion video in a similar style is "The Power Of Selling Out: Your Customers As Political Capital". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8c_m6U1f9o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8c_m6U1f9o
  - samstave 9y ago
    "Facebook former head of security now works for the NSA" https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/06/facebooks-former-security-chief-now-works-nsa/314068/ https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/06/faceb... Not to mention the cadre of other governmentalistia that work there...
samfriedman 9y ago
There was a fairly well-known Facebook page called The Disciples of the New Dawn. They purported to be a cult-like Christian Fundamentalist group, and the page served as a distribution channel for image-macros that seemed designed to get a rise out of people. Things like training children for the militia, eschewing medicine, interpreting pop culture as signs of the end times, etc. The page was also clearly satire, and to lovers of deadpan humor, frequently amusing. I first learned of the page in 2013, and I noticed that Facebook had removed it for Community Guidelines violations some years later. The page appears to be back now, but they now have very clear disclaimers that the content is satirical. http://www.snopes.com/politics/satire/facebookdisciples.asp http://www.snopes.com/politics/satire/facebookdisciples.asp

samstr 9y ago

Maybe we'll see a 'SATIRE' label for these types of articles in the feed.

ceejayoz 9y ago

They played with flagging satirical articles back in 2014: http://mashable.com/2014/08/17/facebook-satire-tag/ http://mashable.com/2014/08/17/facebook-satire-tag/

StephenMelon 9y ago
I see a lot of comments on satire links that clearly demonstrate that large numbers of people can’t always spot satire. That possibly says more about the current cultural and political climate than it does about people’s gullibility though.
- ceejayoz 9y ago
  As an example: a sitting Congressman thought The Onion's "Planned Parenthood Opens $8 Billion Abortionplex" was a believable headline. https://www.yahoo.com/news/blogs/sideshow/congressman-thought-parody-article-planned-parenthood-real-113439270.html https://www.yahoo.com/news/blogs/sideshow/congressman-though...
- pavel_lishin 9y ago
  > current I don't think the current situation is all that different from 2005, when Poe's Law was coined.
- ctdonath 9y ago
  It's not Facebook's job to spot satire or fakes for people. Users expect a "common carrier" type experience, not news curation.
  - ceejayoz 9y ago
    Facebook has over two billion users. "Users expect" a wide variety of different things, and I suspect if you polled them there'd be plenty who expect Facebook to do some curation, particularly in the "trending topics" sort of area.

samstave 9y ago

Don't forget this infamous onion revelation, way before Snowden: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJ380SHZvYU https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJ380SHZvYU

pdkl95 9y ago
Another infamous Onion video in a similar style is "The Power Of Selling Out: Your Customers As Political Capital". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8c_m6U1f9o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8c_m6U1f9o
- samstave 9y ago
  "Facebook former head of security now works for the NSA" https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/06/facebooks-former-security-chief-now-works-nsa/314068/ https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/06/faceb... Not to mention the cadre of other governmentalistia that work there...

samfriedman 9y ago

There was a fairly well-known Facebook page called The Disciples of the New Dawn. They purported to be a cult-like Christian Fundamentalist group, and the page served as a distribution channel for image-macros that seemed designed to get a rise out of people. Things like training children for the militia, eschewing medicine, interpreting pop culture as signs of the end times, etc. The page was also clearly satire, and to lovers of deadpan humor, frequently amusing. I first learned of the page in 2013, and I noticed that Facebook had removed it for Community Guidelines violations some years later. The page appears to be back now, but they now have very clear disclaimers that the content is satirical. http://www.snopes.com/politics/satire/facebookdisciples.asp http://www.snopes.com/politics/satire/facebookdisciples.asp