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The Washington Post Tracked Facebook's Trending Topics For 3 Weeks, Found 5 Fake Stories and 3 Inaccurate Articles (washingtonpost.com)

Posted by msmash on from the fault-in-our-algorithm dept.

An alarming number of people rely on social media, including and especially Facebook, for news. Over the past few months, we have seen how Facebook's Trending Topics feature is often biased, and moreover, how sometimes fake news slips through its filter. The Washington Post monitored the website for over three weeks and found that Facebook is still struggling to get its algorithm right. From the report: The Megyn Kelly incident was supposed to be an anomaly. An unfortunate one-off. A bit of (very public, embarrassing) bad luck. But in the six weeks since Facebook revamped its Trending system -- and a hoax about the Fox News Channel star subsequently trended -- the site has repeatedly promoted "news" stories that are actually works of fiction. As part of a larger audit of Facebook's Trending topics, the Intersect logged every news story that trended across four accounts during the workdays from Aug. 31 to Sept. 22. During that time, we uncovered five trending stories that were indisputably fake and three that were profoundly inaccurate (Editor's note: the link could be paywalled; alternate source). On top of that, we found that news releases, blog posts from sites such as Medium and links to online stores such as iTunes regularly trended. Facebook declined to comment about Trending on the record. "I'm not at all surprised how many fake stories have trended," one former member of the team that used to oversee Trending told the Post. "It was beyond predictable by anyone who spent time with the actual functionality of the product, not just the code."The Post adds that "there's no guarantee" that it was able to catch every hoax, since it looked at Trending feature only once every hour.

20 of 113 comments (clear)

  1. Well... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The feature is called "Trending", not "Factual News". If I photoshop a picture of my cat flying a jet and it goes viral... it's trending. That doesn't mean he's actually flying the jet.

    Here's some news for you... Satire can be popular.

    1. Re: Well... by phantomfive · · Score: 3, Informative

      Bro, look at what is literally trending right now.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
  2. And how about the Washington Post? by XxtraLarGe · · Score: 4, Funny

    Did they have any fake or inaccurate stories over the same period of time? How many corrections did they have to make? The New York Times had to make two corrections to an article about Gary Johnson's Aleppo gaffe on the same day.

    --
    Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
    1. Re:And how about the Washington Post? by XxtraLarGe · · Score: 5, Funny

      Correction: Oops, it was 3 corrections. My bad.

      --
      Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
    2. Re:And how about the Washington Post? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      In this case the question is quite relevant. The Washington Post is slamming Facebook for publishing false or inaccurate stories; it's in their business interest to drive people away from FB and back to "real" media outlets. So why not ask if the Post is really better than FB?

      The question is also very timely. The Washington Post has been publishing a constant stream of Trump-bashing stories and a constant stream of Clinton excuses. They are in no position to be tossing bricks at Facebook's news feed.

  3. Wot? by nospam007 · · Score: 2

    Stupid, fake news and racist trolling trends on Facebook?
    Say it ain't so.

  4. Says Hillary Propaganda arm Washington Post by bongey · · Score: 2, Informative

    Hillary has created the most effective propaganda arm ever made.

    Hillary Propaganda Divisions ABC,NBC,CBS,CNN, NYT, Bumberg, Huffy Post, NewYanker, Politicon, Politifalsehoods, Last Twit Tonight,Washington Post
    https://theintercept.com/2016/...
    http://www.americanthinker.com...
      http://dcleaks.com/emails/cApR...

    1. Re:Says Hillary Propaganda arm Washington Post by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 2, Insightful

      On the other hand, Hillary! and The Rapist Bill have made over $119 million since 2000, allthe while Hillary! was in either the Senate or the Cabinet. And as Harry Truman famously quoted: No man can get rich in politics unless he's a crook. It cannot be done. So who's wrong there? Was ol' Harry wrong about politics being a game that only financially rewards the corrupt, or are Hillary! and the Rapist Bill crooks?

      --
      Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
    2. Re:Says Hillary Propaganda arm Washington Post by bongey · · Score: 3, Informative

      You really are repeating the echo camber of propaganda that hillary has created and didn't read anything. I posted a story for Glenn Greenwald and you called in right wing. You are fucking insane if Glenn Greenwald is right wing now.

      The media is one of the strongest weapons in showing the world the devastating effects of corruption and shining a light on those who would use their entrusted power for personal gain. An independent and free media is a cornerstone of democracy and a crucial component of a healthy governance system.

      Glenn Greenwald( Pulitzer prize winner) hates trump and hillary both but at least he is ethical.

      Glenn Greenwald found ABC,NBC,CBS,CNN, NYT,Bumberg,HuffyPost,NewYanker,Politico, New Yanker taking marching orders from the Clinton Campaign.
      https://theintercept.com/2016/...

      Clinton has corrupted this and turned it into a propaganda arm for her campaign.

      This should scare the hell out of the american people if they know their history.

      I was voting for Hillary until I found this out it is worse than anything Trump has done.
      Trump makes we want to vomit but he would last 4 years and it would clean out the political system a bit. Think off it as a cleanse, nasty going down but it cleans out all the crap.

      I am voting Trump, not because I like him, he makes me vomit, but because the press will do their job, to find government corruption. We will have a health democracy with Trump. If Trump goes 2 dollars over on expense report it will be front page news for a week. Hillary nope, she will tell them what to write. Trump will last 4 years but the crap will be gone.

      Also here are some more fun ones.

      Funny how they came out yesterday saying wikileaks was propaganda, notice how all of the above repeated it, like good little hillary youth.
      https://theintercept.com/2016/...

      Washington Post shilling for Hillary.
      http://www.americanthinker.com...

      Hillary Clinton public and private opinion : wall street and lobbyist ended slavery She lies about lying. That what she we actually saying. Read actual leak, not her lies.
      Nope it is a Fox anchor. You guys will be crying about the moderator.

        Obama likes to expose himself.Go check out his 'Agent' as they call it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

  5. Solution by codeButcher · · Score: 2

    I am glad that I am not caught out by this. I go to serious, bona fide news websites to get my news. They are always objective, accurate, impartial, don't put some slant on stories, and above all, do not ignore some stories that I think are important.

    So let's see how many whooshes this piece of sarcasm creates...

    --
    Free, as in your money being freed from the confines of your account.
    1. Re:Solution by Cro+Magnon · · Score: 2

      I like slashdot for news. If someone posts lies, a slew of people call "bullshit". Of course a slew of people also call "bullshit" when they post the truth. :p

      --
      Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
  6. Bogiousity Astounds.... by avandesande · · Score: 4, Insightful

    So how many stories total did they track? Is 5 stories half the stories? Is it 5% of the stories? Without context '5 stories' is meaningless.

    --
    love is just extroverted narcissism
  7. Facebook is entertainment, not news by QuietLagoon · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Facebook is entertainment, not news

    Facebook is entertainment, not news

    Facebook is entertainment, not news

    (/. won't let me repeat that as many times as I had wanted to...)

  8. Wait. by fropenn · · Score: 2

    There were accurate, real news stories posted on Facebook? I must have the wrong friends.

  9. Summary is exaggerating by MobyDisk · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I hate to defend Facebook here, but if you RTFA, you will see that some of the supposed "fake" and "inaccurate" articles were actually spoofs. People posted them because they were funny. That's like stopping by The Onion and complaining that the news is biased and inaccurate.

  10. Re:And yet no Hillary email stories by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    Holy Fuck.

    RICHARD GOD DAMNED ARTITAGE IS THE LEAKER YOU ASSHOLE!

    You God Damned stupid fuck.

    I know...you are only 12 and your mommy is babysitting you with the computer

    Fucking stupid asshole.

  11. Seriously... by JustNiz · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ...anybody that chooses Facebook as their primary news source deserves all they get, including ridicule.

  12. Washington Post envious of Facebook Trending by sbrown123 · · Score: 2

    Washington Post monitors Facebook Trending for three weeks and find it is working better than the Washington Post. Journalist scramble to discredit system out of fear of being replaced.

  13. Re:Here are some real stories by mnemotronic · · Score: 2

    Let's get this party rolling .....

    Hillary is personally responsible for the Samsung Note explosions.
    The DNC created the Zika virus using genetic engineering and released it on Republican retirement central, aka Florida.
    One of Bill Clinton's secret babies is the leader of ISIS.
    The Republican leaders who have abandoned, ignored or rejected Trump are being paid off by Putin
    Hillary's first official act as President would be to appoint Barak Obama as Ultra Supreme Over-Justice of the Supreme Court. This will be a new position which has ultimate veto or approval power over any court decision.


    Sorry, out of time here. Back to regular day job at Fox...

    --
    The Russians have won. They have made the world a cesspool of distrust, greed, fear and hate.
  14. Re:And yet no Hillary email stories by ganjadude · · Score: 2

    well hold on now..... maybe he pulled it off facebook trending????

    --
    have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same