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Is there any discussion on HN about how to handle these kinds of for-profit fake news factories? Edit: I found one here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1

Is there any discussion on HN about how to handle these kinds of for-profit fake news factories? Edit: I found one here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16774129 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16774129

tgragnato 8y ago
Please don't do this: criticism and false information are different things. > But the government did not relent. People’s Daily, the flagship newspaper of the Communist Party, accused Ms. Ma of manipulating public opinion. Her social accounts were deleted on Feb. 21. The overlapping of the concepts of misinformation and false news are already quite worrying without censorship being confused with "policing the internet".
- chillacy 8y ago
  Can you elaborate? This seems like a fake news operation: you make up a story and people share it because it resonates with some truism they believe in. > The article was widely circulated online and prompted debate about China’s wealth gap, surging medical costs and the value of education — common complaints of China’s middle class. Soon, however, internet users pointed to factual errors and said the piece had been invented. I remember awhile ago someone got criticized for doing the same thing, getting people riled up over some fake immigrant violence or something.
  - tgragnato 8y ago
    see answer to the OP
- zachguo 8y ago
  The government is definitely suppressive and has zero tolerance on 'rumors'. https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/09/06/chinas-lessons-for-fighting-fake-news/ https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/09/06/chinas-lessons-for-figh... But this particular shop definitely falls into the category of fake news factory. Sensational stories with clickbait titles are invented to drive up viewership.
  - tgragnato 8y ago
    Some actors in new media spread false informations, and this is a real issue. But in China, people turn to blogs as a result of the censorship. ...More filtering cannot be an answer. You don't combat false news by electing an arbiter of the truth (whoever it might be), because that's the start of a journey in a rabbit hole with no end. Some possible solutions are forcing an organisation to publish corrections and clarifications, forcing people to critical thinking by engaging them in a civil discussion (one of the reasons I like HN). Total banning and complete erasure shouldn't be options worth considering.

tgragnato 8y ago

Please don't do this: criticism and false information are different things. > But the government did not relent. People’s Daily, the flagship newspaper of the Communist Party, accused Ms. Ma of manipulating public opinion. Her social accounts were deleted on Feb. 21. The overlapping of the concepts of misinformation and false news are already quite worrying without censorship being confused with "policing the internet".

chillacy 8y ago
Can you elaborate? This seems like a fake news operation: you make up a story and people share it because it resonates with some truism they believe in. > The article was widely circulated online and prompted debate about China’s wealth gap, surging medical costs and the value of education — common complaints of China’s middle class. Soon, however, internet users pointed to factual errors and said the piece had been invented. I remember awhile ago someone got criticized for doing the same thing, getting people riled up over some fake immigrant violence or something.
- tgragnato 8y ago
  see answer to the OP
zachguo 8y ago
The government is definitely suppressive and has zero tolerance on 'rumors'. https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/09/06/chinas-lessons-for-fighting-fake-news/ https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/09/06/chinas-lessons-for-figh... But this particular shop definitely falls into the category of fake news factory. Sensational stories with clickbait titles are invented to drive up viewership.
- tgragnato 8y ago
  Some actors in new media spread false informations, and this is a real issue. But in China, people turn to blogs as a result of the censorship. ...More filtering cannot be an answer. You don't combat false news by electing an arbiter of the truth (whoever it might be), because that's the start of a journey in a rabbit hole with no end. Some possible solutions are forcing an organisation to publish corrections and clarifications, forcing people to critical thinking by engaging them in a civil discussion (one of the reasons I like HN). Total banning and complete erasure shouldn't be options worth considering.