Biodun.BBC: Fake news

Tuesday, June 11, 2019

86 percent of internet users admit being duped by fake news: survey

Date created : 12/06/2019 - 06:24 GMT/ZULU

Respondents to a global survey of internet users say they want both governments and social media companies to crack down on fake news onlineAFP/File

ADVERTISING

Ottawa

by Tamara Kachelmeier and Biodun Iginla, France24

Eighty-six percent of internet users have been duped by fake news -- most of it spread on Facebook -- according to a global survey published Tuesday.

Respondents said they want both governments and social media companies to crack down on these activities, which are contributing to a growing distrust of the internet as well as negatively impacting economies and political discourse.

ADVERTISING

The United States took the lion's share of the blame for spreading fake news, followed by Russia and China, according to the annual Ipsos survey of more than 25,000 internet users in 25 countries.

Fake news appeared to be most prevalent on Facebook, but also appears on YouTube, blogs and Twitter, the pollsters found.

The survey results showed people in Egypt were the most gullible while respondents in Pakistan were the most skeptical.

The results also revealed widespread distrust of social media companies and growing concerns over online privacy and biases baked into algorithms used by internet companies.

The poll -- which relied on both in-person and online interviews -- was conducted between December 21, 2018 and February 10, 2019 on behalf of the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI).

"This year's survey of global attitudes not only underscores the fragility of the internet, but also netizens' growing discomfort with social media and the power these corporations wield over their daily lives," CIGI's Fen Osler Hampson said in a statement.

Saturday, July 14, 2018

Image copyrightREUTERS

by Tamara Kachelmeier and Biodun Iginla, BBC News Technology reporters, San Francisco

Facebook says it will not remove fake news from its platform because it does not violate its community standards.

The social network is currently running an advertising campaign in the UK that declares "fake news is not our friend".

But it said publishers often had "very different points of view" and removing fabricated posts would be "contrary to the basic principles of free speech".

Instead, it says posts that it deems to be fake news will be "demoted" in the news feed.

Facebook has been scrutinised for its role in spreading fake news after evidence emerged that Russia tried to influence US voters using the social network.

On Wednesday, the company held an event in New York where it sought to convince journalists it was tackling the problem.

CNN reporter Oliver Darcy asked how the company could claim to be tackling the spread of misinformation when it allowed the InfoWars page to remain on the platform.

InfoWars produces live talk shows online and has more than 900,000 followers on Facebook. Its primary host, Alex Jones, has more than 2.4 million subscribers on YouTube.

However, the platform has pushed demonstrably false information, such as the conspiracy theory that the Sandy Hook school shooting in 2012 was faked by the US government.

Responding to CNN, Facebook's John Hegeman said: "We created Facebook to be a place where different people can have a voice."

The company said it would not remove fake news that did not break its rules but would down-rank content that had been marked as false.

"We allow people to post it as a form of expression, but we're not going to show it at the top of News Feed," a spokeswoman told CNN.

The site had trialled displaying a red warning icon next to articles that fact checkers had identified as false, but later said it found this approach had "entrenched deeply held beliefs".

Facebook's Sara Su told reporters on Wednesday that fake news and conspiracy theories "can be really problematic and it bugs me, too".

But InfoWars contributor Paul Watson suggested CNN was "lobbying a company to shut down a smaller competitor".