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Crowdsourced Volunteers Search For Solutions To Fake News (wired.co.uk)

Upworthy co-founder Eli Pariser is leading a group of online volunteers hunting for ways to respond to the spread of fake news. An anonymous reader quotes Wired UK: Inside a Google Doc, volunteers are gathering ideas and approaches to get a grip on the untruthful news stories. It is part analysis, part brainstorming, with those involved being encouraged to read widely around the topic before contributing. "This is a massive endeavour but well worth it," they say...

At present, the group is coming up with a list of potential solutions and approaches. Possible methods the group is looking at include: more human editors, fingerprinting viral stories then training algorithms on confirmed fakes, domain checking, the blockchain, a reliability algorithm, sentiment analysis, a Wikipedia for news sources, and more.

The article also suggests this effort may one day spawn fake news-fighting tech startups.

152 of 270 comments (clear)

  1. Pretty dumb because all news are fake. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    So you are going to close down MSNBC and CNN as well?

    1. Re:Pretty dumb because all news are fake. by Place+a+name+here · · Score: 2

      When people thought the earth was flat, they were wrong. When people thought the earth was spherical, they were wrong. But if you think that thinking the earth is spherical is just as wrong as thinking the earth is flat, then your view is wronger than both of them put together.

      No news is perfectly accurate, but some moreso than others.

    2. Re:Pretty dumb because all news are fake. by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

      An algorithmic detector won't consider the source, only the contents. Problem solved.

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    3. Re:Pretty dumb because all news are fake. by Z00L00K · · Score: 1

      And what about "The Onion"???

      When is it parody, when is it fake news and what about cases when the channel contains some truth and some lies, where do we draw the line?

      --
      If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
    4. Re:Pretty dumb because all news are fake. by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      No. They make mistakes and could certainly do better, but not all news is fake. There is true news it there and if you read multiple reputable sources and do some basic checks on things that seem unlikely you won't go wrong.

      Take your post-truth bullshit elsewhere, AC.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    5. Re:Pretty dumb because all news are fake. by allcoolnameswheretak · · Score: 1

      Gotta love those heroes of Slashdot who mod you down because they don't like what you say and are probably too stupid and lazy to give counter arguments instead.

    6. Re:Pretty dumb because all news are fake. by Rockoon · · Score: 1

      Is that why the word "domain" is listed?

      --
      "His name was James Damore."
    7. Re:Pretty dumb because all news are fake. by I75BJC · · Score: 3, Interesting

      As you said, you are NOT a USA person/citizen/American. CNN and MSNBC have decidedly supported Leftist causes to the detriment of reporting "all" the news. The reluctance to report concerning the Clinton email scandal (until they were "forced" to report). The ignoring of the Clinton health question (which could have actually reduced the impact of the reports on her health). The stated support for Leftist causes. As a person who can decide what to think, I greatly prefer a non-slanted news report. MSNBC is much the same but I don't carry the details around in my head.

    8. Re:Pretty dumb because all news are fake. by Fragnet · · Score: 1

      CNN? The BBC? Ahahahahahahaha. You're a funny guy.

    9. Re: Pretty dumb because all news are fake. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I watch CNN International when overseas for their quality reporting. I watch CNN in the US to see what agenda is being pushed this month. They're very different organizations with very different agendas. Let me encourage you, next time you're in turmStates, to watch CNN and marvel at the difference.

    10. Re:Pretty dumb because all news are fake. by PvtVoid · · Score: 2

      I read the German public news (Tagesschau), the BBC, Spanish "El Pais", Al-Jazeera for the middle east perspective and also CNN and Fox News for the American pitches (MSNBC not so much).

      And from comparing all of these together, I believe I am qualified to say that CNN has a good quality to their journalism, at least the main articles.

      Oddly, if you watch CNN International on TV in Europe, it's actually very good journalism. The U.S. version is a horrifying cesspool of vapid trash, and the worst part of it is that there are TVs everywhere in the U.S. You can't go to a bar without getting Fox News stuffed in your face, and you can't go to an airport without a panel blaring CNN being always within your line of sight.

      From my experience, the best TV journalism right now is coming from Al Jazeera. Thanks to Al Gore, Al Jazeera English on the web is now blocked in the U.S., despite the fact that Al Jazeera America failed. This country is so fucked up.

    11. Re:Pretty dumb because all news are fake. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Hi buddy,

      Here is a blatant example of the fake news put out by CNN: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-8Cn6boqcA

      This was a lie by omission to shape the narrative in favor of their agenda.

      Another example is the Mainstream Media coverage of Black Lives Matter, especially the people killed in self defense by the police. Couple that with the failure to cover the identities of those who are arrested each year in Operation Cross Country and various other crimes that are ignored by national news http://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/elderly-woman-burned-beaten-in-her-home-dies-weeks-after-attack/430968502 and you will understand why we all know that the MSM, led by CNN has abdicated their credibility.

    12. Re: Pretty dumb because all news are fake. by arth1 · · Score: 1

      Nothing outside my own mind exists; all news is fake because all everything is fake.

      Ah. You are the solipsist.

    13. Re:Pretty dumb because all news are fake. by MightyMartian · · Score: 1

      Solipsism doesn't strike me as a good thing to base a democracy on.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    14. Re:Pretty dumb because all news are fake. by mi · · Score: 1

      I read the German public news (Tagesschau), the BBC, Spanish "El Pais", Al-Jazeera

      All of these are sponsored by their respective governments and therefor undeniably tainted.

      I believe I am qualified to say that CNN has a good quality to their journalism

      Only in a sence, a men accustomed to eating excrement of buffaloes, elephants, and tigers, is "qualified" to judges that of cats and bisons.

      I have yet to see blatant fake news on CNN.

      Oh, please. The even Wikipedia has a list of what it gently calls CNN controversies . And that's just where they got caught... My "favorites" would be:

      Operation Tailwind, 1998 CNN and Time-magazine accused Pentagon of using Sarin to kill American defectors in Vietnam Assault weapons, 2003 CNN demonstrated the rapid firing of fully-automatic firearms while covering the federal Assault Weapons Ban, due to expire the following year. The ban was covering only the semi-automatic weapons. Coverage of Serbia, 2008 CNN reported on pro-Karadzic protests in Belgrade as well as the protester clashes with the Serb police. However, the actual footage of the Belgrade clash in the report was inter-cut with sequences from the much more violent 2006 Budapest riot in which cars were set on fire and police used water cannons. The network falsely presented the mixed footage as video from the Belgrade protests.

      Various channels of Putin-TV do this to Ukraine all the time nowadays, I wonder, where they got the idea...

      These are just the established and verified "errors" of the past. Then there is scandalous coverage of Trayvon Martin's death, when the US media — CNN included — pushed a false narrative, that the killing was racially motivated. They even presented his killer as "White" and implied, he was a "Conservative", even though Mr. Zimmerman was of Hispanic origin and a registered Democrat.

      The 2016 presidential campaign has shown all of the US "established" media as biased liars, but it will take years of tedious sorting out. CNN? The supposedly "objective" information source has leaked debate questions to one of the debate-participants ahead of time. Twicethat we know of! They got rid of the Donna Brazile over it, but she, obviously, was not acting alone — the rest remain at CNN. Great journalist organization...

      --
      In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
    15. Re:Pretty dumb because all news are fake. by nbauman · · Score: 1

      So, in all this uncertainty, how can you be sure you have a good understanding of reality? Alternatively, if you consider every point of view, no matter how crazy, how can you not be swayed back and forth by every conflicting report that pops into your view?

      John Stuart Mill. On Liberty.
      http://www.bartleby.com/130/2....

    16. Re: Pretty dumb because all news are fake. by allcoolnameswheretak · · Score: 1

      Google it yourself and you will find nothing of what you mention. In fact, what you find is this:

      http://variety.com/2016/tv/new...

      CNN issued a formal apology for putting a banner graphic on screen that appeared to give credence to extreme right-wing propaganda about people of the Jewish faith.

    17. Re:Pretty dumb because all news are fake. by allcoolnameswheretak · · Score: 1

      That is not -fake -news. There is of course selective journalism and it is no surprise CNN will censor a woman saying "shit" 5 times in a sentence. You can't air that in public television. Also, the woman is not "calling for violence" she is saying if you need to burn shit down, do it somewhere else, and she is obviously emotionally agitated. That's the equivalent of a bartender asking a pair of ruffians to take their fight outside.

      If you put that on the same level as actual -fake news- where people either totally make up facts or deny actual, real facts, there is something wrong with your perception. There is real, actual fake news, and you won't find that stuff on CNN, but on Breitbart, for example.

    18. Re:Pretty dumb because all news are fake. by allcoolnameswheretak · · Score: 1, Informative

      The problem with America is, your moral compass is skewed so far to the right, that you perceive CNN as being on the left.

      Sorry, but it's not true. It's your perception that is the problem. By European standards, or the rest of the world for that matter, CNN is even conservative. It's the American society that for some reason has drifted so far to the right, it's not even funny anymore. Only in America some nutcase conservative could come up with something as "Conservapedia"
      http://www.conservapedia.com/
      Because Wikipedia, a real encyclopedia, has a "liberal bias".

      Only in America!

    19. Re:Pretty dumb because all news are fake. by tuxgeek · · Score: 1

      Best place to start is with Fox News as they do the worst damage spreading their brand of hate and misinformation dressed up all cute and friendly like. Very deceiving group there.

      Then again, the problem would be null if we spent less time finger pointing and blaming everyone but ourselves for our problems.

      --
      "Suppose you were an idiot...and suppose you were a member of Congress...but I repeat myself." Mark Twain
    20. Re:Pretty dumb because all news are fake. by Charcharodon · · Score: 1

      CNN is more guilty of looking into the sky to comment on the weather rather than look down at their feet as they step over the bodies left in the wake of their pet political ideologies and parties.

      "We don't lie" is not the same thing as "We tell the truth"

      They just conveniently forget to mention all stories that might go against their narrative.

    21. Re:Pretty dumb because all news are fake. by Charcharodon · · Score: 1, Troll

      All perspective is relative and all space is infinite. There is no left and right. There is free and not free and all the variations in between.

      . You are criticizing us by moving the origin point to a location that makes you look reasonable and us crazy. That is dishonest/delusional.

      What you don't seem to realize is just a few points to the left from your "reasonable" position are the historical governments of Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Russia. All you need is another major economic, cultural, or military crisis (almost there on all three) and the rise of a ruthless leader willing to use all that power Europeans have just handed over to their government like the good little sheep they are.

      We on the other hand are pushing very hard to stay as far away as possible from those positions and are more than happy that you find it disappointing.

    22. Re:Pretty dumb because all news are fake. by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 1

      I'm not American, I'm a multilingual European

      "In Soviet Europe, News reads you!"

      . . . multilingually . . .

      "I am not a number! I am a free man!" -- PolygamousRanchPrisoner

      --
      Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
    23. Re:Pretty dumb because all news are fake. by MightyMartian · · Score: 1

      Loudmouths say lots of absurd things. America was built on conspiracy theories. The Declaration of Independence invokes at least one, when it references the Crown's allowing the residents of New France keeping their civil legal system as evidence that King George intended to overthrow the English Common Law system:

      For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies

      Of course, that never actually happened and Quebec remains the only part of the former British North America that uses a civil law system. Meanwhile a few decades later one of those Founding Father's happily purchased French territory for the US and allowed it to retain that dreaded alien legal system.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    24. Re:Pretty dumb because all news are fake. by Oligonicella · · Score: 1

      No, it is not blocked. You really should have tried to access English Al Jazeera before writing that. I just visited the English site to check.

    25. Re:Pretty dumb because all news are fake. by Oligonicella · · Score: 1

      You need to read the response to you by mi ( 197448 ). Obviously you *will* find that stuff on CNN.

    26. Re:Pretty dumb because all news are fake. by PvtVoid · · Score: 1

      No, it is not blocked. You really should have tried to access English Al Jazeera before writing that. I just visited the English site to check.

      Well, I'll be damned. It's back. Yay!

    27. Re: Pretty dumb because all news are fake. by coteriescavenger · · Score: 1, Troll

      Actually, you Europeans are the ones who drifted to the left. America faired better against the Marxist movement than your countries did. I'm pretty sure it's on the verge of breaking America too, but I don't think they expected Trump. Anyway, CNN is known to be on the left by freedom standards, and now they've been caught purposely misleading the public to elect Hillary.

  2. Well you could start by not falling for it by Crashmarik · · Score: 5, Interesting

    https://theintercept.com/2016/...

    Seeing as the Fake News idea is being promoted by people who won't even come out into the open.

    In other words, the individuals behind this newly created group are publicly branding journalists and news outlets as tools of Russian propaganda – even calling on the FBI to investigate them for espionage – while cowardly hiding their own identities.

    The credentials of this supposed group of experts are impossible to verify, as none is provided either by the Post or by the group itself. The Intercept contacted PropOrNot and asked numerous questions about about its team, but received only this reply: “We’re getting a lot of requests for comment and can get back to you today =) [smiley face emoticon].” The group added: “We’re over 30 people, organized into teams, and we cannot confirm or deny anyone’s involvement.”

    And if you really want to stop fake news, you can ask questions. A good one to start with, is where is the proof that Russia did any of this ?

    1. Re:Well you could start by not falling for it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      And if you really want to stop fake news, you can ask questions. A good one to start with, is where is the proof that Russia did any of this ?

      The fact that Putin has replaced Donald J Trump with a surgically altered body double Russian agent should give you a clue, if you are seriously asking that question.

    2. Re:Well you could start by not falling for it by Dutch+Gun · · Score: 1

      What I want to know is... which of the stages of grief does this focus on fake news represent? I'm thinking maybe "bargaining".

      --
      Irony: Agile development has too much intertia to be abandoned now.
    3. Re:Well you could start by not falling for it by dbIII · · Score: 1

      A good one to start with, is where is the proof that Russia did any of this ?

      Does it matter?
      As an aside the Chinese English language media outlets are a hilarious example of fake news that's worth looking at for a laugh. The story from former insiders is that a combination of very tight deadlines, a need to fill a lot of space per writer plus having to follow the Party line to an extreme results in a collection of bullshit, puff pieces, hilarious typos and recycled rants against anyone that they have heard of who is critical of China.
      That we are seeing stuff like that in other places is a bit of a worry no matter who is paying the PR agencies or whatever.

    4. Re:Well you could start by not falling for it by guises · · Score: 1

      Seeing as the Fake News idea is being promoted by people who won't even come out into the open.

      You seem to be conflating two different things. This blacklist is being promoted by people who won't com out into the open, the "fake news idea" is a very broad one promoted by lots of people, many of whom are out in the open.

      I hope you're not trying to imply that fake news doesn't exist, anyone with eyes and a modest ability to think critically has seen blatantly false stories being passed off as gospel.

    5. Re:Well you could start by not falling for it by msauve · · Score: 1

      So, fake news is itself fake news. News at 11!

      --
      "National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
    6. Re: Well you could start by not falling for it by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

      look at all the closed and closing casinos in atlantic city before asking that question again.

      What an unironic statement.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    7. Re:Well you could start by not falling for it by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

      A good one to start with, is where is the proof that Russia did any of this ?

      Russia have been pushing fake news for 50 years now. Where is the proof that they suddenly stopped?

      Just be concerned when Trump's enemies start dropping from indigestion problems.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    8. Re:Well you could start by not falling for it by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

      I hope you're not trying to imply that fake news doesn't exist, anyone with eyes and a modest ability to think critically has seen blatantly false stories being passed off as gospel.

      Its just deflection and misdirection. A time honored technique.

      "What about this Video of your candidate screwing a chicken?"

      "Well what about all of the persimmon workers who were cost their jobs by martians coming to earth for abortions?"

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    9. Re:Well you could start by not falling for it by MightyMartian · · Score: 1

      And how do you know the Russians are involved? Because the first thing they do is try to point at the nearest Jew and blame him.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    10. Re:Well you could start by not falling for it by sycodon · · Score: 1

      Wikileaks just outed the folks behind the Fake News bullshit.

      --
      When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
    11. Re:Well you could start by not falling for it by Ryanrule · · Score: 1

      russia is doing this all over europe. they need to be smacked, hard.

    12. Re:Well you could start by not falling for it by rholtzjr · · Score: 1

      I really do not think Soros is alone on this. WaPo (source of info for PropOrNot) is owned by who?

    13. Re:Well you could start by not falling for it by aicrules · · Score: 1

      I'm waiting eagerly for 11 to roll around. If this turns out to be more fake news instead of actual News I'm going to mod you down. Oh wait...crap.

  3. Go back to make it illegal. by Nyder · · Score: 3, Insightful

    In 2013 Obama signed a bill which part of allows the use of propaganda in the USA legal again (made illegal in 1947). Which is why we have so much fake news now, media sources aren't required to fact check since that would expose the government backed fake news.

    So how about we make this sort of shit illegal again?

    --
    Be seeing you...
    1. Re:Go back to make it illegal. by Nyder · · Score: 2
      --
      Be seeing you...
    2. Re:Go back to make it illegal. by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      Modern art was CIA 'weapon' (22 October 1995)
      http://www.independent.co.uk/n...
      "... set up a division, the Propaganda Assets Inventory, which at its peak could influence more than 800 newspapers, magazines and public information organisations. "
      Its interesting reading about the past of many US projects with terms like:
      "Revealed: US spy operation that manipulates social media" (Friday 18 March 2011)
      https://www.theguardian.com/te...
      "... none of the interventions would be in English, as it would be unlawful to "address US audiences" with such technology"
      "The CIA and the media" gives some context to what the US was doing globally.
      http://carlbernstein.com/magaz...

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    3. Re:Go back to make it illegal. by SeaFox · · Score: 1

      In 2013 Obama signed a bill which part of allows the use of propaganda in the USA legal again (made illegal in 1947). Which is why we have so much fake news now, media sources aren't required to fact check since that would expose the government backed fake news.

      Not to mention it would cost money. That's why there's so much celebrity "news" in the news now, most of it is cheap fashion commentary or theories and supposition on their private lives (which can be as wild as they want, since it's not being reported as opinion).

    4. Re:Go back to make it illegal. by SeaFox · · Score: 1

      That's why there's so much celebrity "news" in the news now, most of it is cheap fashion commentary or theories and supposition on their private lives (which can be as wild as they want, since it's not being reported as opinion).

      Meh. It is being reported only as opinion/theory, I meant. Not as fact.

    5. Re:Go back to make it illegal. by organgtool · · Score: 4, Informative

      In 2013 Obama signed a bill

      If you want to attach name(s) to legislation please disclose all the names and parties of the people who proposed the legislation, the majority parties who passed it, and the name of the president that signed it. In this case, the Smith-Mundt Modernization Act of 2012 was proposed by Mac Thornberry (R-Texas), and it passed a Republican majority in the House and Senate, and was finally signed by Obama (D). Disclosing this information gives people a fuller picture of who is to praise/blame, especially when both parties are responsible for its passage.

    6. Re:Go back to make it illegal. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      In the first place, the First Amendment clearly states that propaganda has always been legal in the US.

      In the second place, what the Smith-Mundt Modernization Act allows is for Americans to be allowed to see the propaganda that is disseminated by their tax dollars to foreigners, via VOA and other agencies. Previously that information was not available to them, unless of course they had an internet connection.

      The act you're complaining about doesn't do anything like what you think it does.

    7. Re:Go back to make it illegal. by geekmux · · Score: 1

      That's why there's so much celebrity "news" in the news now, most of it is cheap fashion commentary or theories and supposition on their private lives (which can be as wild as they want, since it's not being reported as opinion).

      Meh. It is being reported only as opinion/theory, I meant. Not as fact.

      When people are paid per click, they're going to propagate utter bullshit in whatever shape, form, or color pays them the most.

      That includes information well beyond opinion or theory, which is why we're having this discussion.

  4. Would This System Flag... by BlueStrat · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Would this system flag fake news like the Michael Brown "Hands up, don't shoot" fake news that falsely claimed he had his hands up and was not charging at the police officer after already attacking him and attempting to take the officer's sidearm?

    I have doubts that such a system will flag false/fake stories that nevertheless fit certain agendas and narratives.

    I believe there's a lot of fake news about "fake news" in order to lay the groundwork for "officially-sanctioned news and facts" a la "MiniTruth", and systematic suppression of independent news sources that don't fit certain narratives and agendas. I think HRC's election loss and all the independent news sources that published/posted/outed inconvenient facts about her has scared TPTB, and they are now attempting to marginalize, discredit, and destroy those who publicize that which they prefer be kept from the public.

    Strat

    --
    Progressivism (aka US 'Liberalism'): Ideas so good they need a police/surveillance-state to enforce.
    1. Re:Would This System Flag... by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      The system doesn't have to be perfect or handle difficult cases that it took the State Department months to get to the bottom of. It just has to flag up the really obvious click-bait that drives guys like our own Masahiki into a little fantasy world of hatred and anger. Just flag the easily debunked stories, like the pizza place paedophile ring nonsense.

      Of course it won't work for everyone, the alt-right will just reject it as leftist propaganda without actually checking the sources cited. It doesn't really matter though, it only has to work on enough people to stop the stories getting millions of likes on Facebook to be useful and effective.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    2. Re:Would This System Flag... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Eli Pariser is one of the bigshots at Avaaz (formerly MoveOn.org), the group that Hillary used to ship weapons to al-Qaeda in Libya so that there wouldn't be a CIA footprint on the operation.

      LOLWHUT?!

      Dude, there is some serious shit in your tap water. Buy a filter.

    3. Re:Would This System Flag... by ranton · · Score: 1

      Would this system flag fake news like the Michael Brown "Hands up, don't shoot" fake news that falsely claimed he had his hands up and was not charging at the police officer after already attacking him and attempting to take the officer's sidearm?

      Hopefully yes it would. Ideally such a system would not only focus on the vast majority of fake news pushing a conservative agenda, but also the fake news pushing a liberal one.

      It isn't like liberal partisans aren't as willing as conservative ones to use propaganda, it just doesn't work as well for them. Even the fake news networks admit fake news just doesn't work on liberals very well. As the owner of one of these fake news sites stated:

      We've tried to do similar things to liberals. It just has never worked, it never takes off. You'll get debunked within the first two comments and then the whole thing just kind of fizzles out.

      --
      -- All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. -- Edmund Burke
  5. Re:Make fake news punishable by death by Hylandr · · Score: 1

    And checked by an editor. ffs they can't even be bothered to use spell check.

    --
    ~ People that think they are better than anyone else for any reason are the cause of all the strife in the world.
  6. Does the net need more teams of SJW? by AHuxley · · Score: 2

    The internet is about finding news, sites, forums, chats, people, fun, enjoying social media or adding a comment.
    If a user does not like a site, don't use it, dont return to it. Making it not easy to search for results or delisting terms won't change reality.
    If the site is in the USA, having freedom of speech is protected. Having freedom after speech is protected from gov staff.
    Freedom from a gov or mil, a political party or theocracy or cult is what sets the USA apart from the rest of the world.
    If a company does or does not want to host material, find results or comments, thats ok too.
    Just make it clear that your products or services are not going to get good results as teams have restricted all expected functionality.
    Users then have the freedom to start their own sites or select from much better competing services that have embraced freedom.
    Freedom does not go away after one company bans it. Freedom and fun then moves to better sites who support free speech.
    If a brand wants to support SJW, governments, theocracies, cults, contractors and be a huge safe space thats their option.
    In a free market of ideas and so many other great brands supporting freedom of speech to become a very boring brand is not really the best marketing position.
    Censorship as branding might be great for some faiths or nations but freedom sells globally.

    --
    Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    1. Re:Does the net need more teams of SJW? by Freischutz · · Score: 1

      The internet is about finding news, sites, forums, chats, people, fun, enjoying social media or adding a comment. If a user does not like a site, don't use it, dont return to it. Making it not easy to search for results or delisting terms won't change reality. If the site is in the USA, having freedom of speech is protected. Having freedom after speech is protected from gov staff. Freedom from a gov or mil, a political party or theocracy or cult is what sets the USA apart from the rest of the world. If a company does or does not want to host material, find results or comments, thats ok too. Just make it clear that your products or services are not going to get good results as teams have restricted all expected functionality. Users then have the freedom to start their own sites or select from much better competing services that have embraced freedom. Freedom does not go away after one company bans it. Freedom and fun then moves to better sites who support free speech. If a brand wants to support SJW, governments, theocracies, cults, contractors and be a huge safe space thats their option. In a free market of ideas and so many other great brands supporting freedom of speech to become a very boring brand is not really the best marketing position. Censorship as branding might be great for some faiths or nations but freedom sells globally.

      *Sigh* ... No, the internet is for porn!

  7. Two Types Of Propaganda by rtb61 · · Score: 2

    The interesting thing about all this fake news and propaganda, is there are actually two distinct types of propaganda. The first everyone knows about and that is the stuff propagandists target at majority, the regular marketing lies told for what ever purpose. The second kind of propaganda is entirely different, now that propaganda is actually targeted at the propagandists.

    Propagandists are bound to react to what the perceive as their target audience reactions and especially careful to protect their lies whilst hiding the truth. This makes them very reactive, they are forced to listen in case they are being exposed, or they are not selling their lies. There are really powerful emotions at play, greed, fear of being exposed for the crimes, fear of no longer being able to hide who they really, with very serious consequences, not only losing the proceeds of their crime but extended custodial sentences. This makes them very vulnerable to propaganda targeted at them, they must react or fail and suffer severe penalties.

    The reactive nature allows them to be manipulated into over reacting or reacting in the wrong manner and traps them into doing things like pushing into more and more extreme propaganda which becomes harder and harder to sell or propaganda that undermines their own propaganda or even propaganda that foolishly exposes more secrets than it should.

    Fix fake news, I would say break up the big main stream media organisation but if hardly seems worth the effort any more, they have already been tricked into destroying themselves by over reacting and whoops they can't take it back now, just going to dig themselves deeper and deeper. Simply legislate 'News' as a licensed profession and those practising are bound by the truth, fail to prove the truth they claim in court, then they do the prison time. Now if you want to tell stories and do no claim to be a licensed news practitioner, then not a problem, do want you want as long as it is within the regular laws. Once you claim to be a licensed news professional than you expose yourself to criminal penalties for lying (this is something that main stream media organisations will oppose maybe 80% of the market, about 20% will support it because they report the truth and the News licence and there honour and integrity would see them with a worth while professions).

    --
    Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
  8. Will they separate fakes from just non-approved? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    So, will these methods also separate "fake news" from "not approved by globalist leftist agenda" news, or will it label both as fake?

    Will they label "fake news" from "reputable sources" or do those automatically get a pass?

    It used to be that you could trust news based on their source, but these days mainstream media is so hilariously biased and spreading outright fake stuff that drives the globalist agenda, it is impossible to tell just based on the source any more.

  9. Tech won't fix society by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 3, Insightful

    "Fake news" is a social problem. And social problems, generally speaking, don't have technological solutions.

    For example, all these suggestions for better and smarter algorithms to detect fake news. But why? It's not like fake news are hard to tell apart in general. Filter out anything that uses ALL CAPS anywhere in the title (acronyms excepted), and you've already solved 90% of the problem. And there are numerous guides already on the Internet that go over all these basics... the problem is that people who do read and spread those fake news don't believe that they're fake. And just because it's an algorithm in their browser or Facebook telling them that it's fake, they're not going to suddenly start believing it, regardless of how perfect it is. They'll just say, "Whoever implemented this is biased, and they're just trying to censor my trusted sources - fuck them", disable or ignore the feature (or switch to a product that doesn't have it - and there will be one if this becomes a thing; free market will always fill a niche), and move on.

    So the real problem is, "How do you convince most people who currently believe that those news are real, that they're actually fake." And that is entirely a social problem, which tech cannot and will not solve.

    1. Re:Tech won't fix society by Place+a+name+here · · Score: 1

      "Fake news" is a social problem. And social problems, generally speaking, don't have technological solutions.

      To some extent, yes. But every system that includes people has a dynamic, and the dynamic depends both on the people and the rules of the system. For instance, the way social media suggests friends' likes to you makes it easier to disappear into an opinion bubble, shielded from other points of view, because presumably your friends have similar opinions. If the suggestion algorithm instead was tweaked to suggest things more broadly, then it would at least slow the positive feedback loop.

      However, this will degrade the users' short term experience and in a way constitutes an externality. So there's no wonder why social media did go for the most instantly gratifying solution; but in doing so, they made the problem worse.

    2. Re:Tech won't fix society by hackertourist · · Score: 1

      The problem is not those instances where fake news is easy to detect. "aliens are controlling your minds", well duh.
      It's about those instances where the fake news is plausible. Like the claims that Russia carried out the DNC hack. I've read so many claims and counterclaims that I don't know what's what anymore, and given the discussions here on /., neither do many others.

    3. Re:Tech won't fix society by hackertourist · · Score: 1

      hit 'Submit' too soon.

      Also those instances where real news is claimed by people to be fake because they don't like what it says .

    4. Re:Tech won't fix society by david_bonn · · Score: 1

      So the real problem is, "How do you convince most people who currently believe that those news are real, that they're actually fake." And that is entirely a social problem, which tech cannot and will not solve.

      The very long-term solution is to educate the citizens of the Republic in the skill of thinking critically.

      I absolutely agree that we are dealing with a social problem, not a technological one. And one that isn't really amenable to a quick technical fix.

      It is easy to distinguish "fake" news, propaganda, and out-and-out bullshit if you don't have a dog in the fight. Go watch "Reefer Madness" for one hilarious example. Old WWII newsreels seem similarly mawkish today. And reading *Tass* articles from the 70's and 80's is also instructive. If you watch/read enough of those you can develop a mental model of what bullshit smells like.

      My own personal rule of thumb is that I become suspicious of any news that agrees too much with how I view the world.

    5. Re:Tech won't fix society by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 1

      The problem are all instances that people believe in.

      And vast majority of them are only slightly more plausible than "aliens are controlling your minds". It's stuff like "Obama is secretly a Muslim who's plotting to have US occupied by UN". And I personally know some people who genuinely believe this, and will happily reshare any news from e.g. InfoWars that will support and reinforce that belief.

    6. Re:Tech won't fix society by geekmux · · Score: 1

      "Fake news" is a social problem. And social problems, generally speaking, don't have technological solutions.

      For example, all these suggestions for better and smarter algorithms to detect fake news. But why? It's not like fake news are hard to tell apart in general. Filter out anything that uses ALL CAPS anywhere in the title (acronyms excepted), and you've already solved 90% of the problem...

      HOW IRONIC that you've proposed a technical solution for a social problem.

      ...So the real problem is, "How do you convince most people who currently believe that those news are real, that they're actually fake." And that is entirely a social problem, which tech cannot and will not solve.

      Perhaps we can start by making any news published by any social media illegal.. That would likely solve 90% of the problem as well, since we've obviously found the sinkhole of stupidity in society. When zooming out the lens, you tend to find the social things that have changed in the last few decades that help perpetuate ignorance today.

    7. Re:Tech won't fix society by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 1

      HOW IRONIC that you've proposed a technical solution for a social problem.

      No, I didn't. The solution that I proposed is to the problem of determining fake news from real news - that is a technical problem. The social problem is different - how to make people believe and/or care that fake news are fake.

    8. Re:Tech won't fix society by rewardian · · Score: 1

      We are all subject to the media environment (much like you describe) which is largely technological. I'm not saying their aren't culturally-related solutions to this "problem", but technological ones may even be the quickest. No matter the minority that still uses RSS and the web outside walled gardens, and will receive their desired "news" however they damn well please, how Facebook et al. display news posts, from friends and friends-of-friends, isn't nothing. Also, discouraging technological solutions doesn't seem to be productive. e.g. I just thought of a bot that scans white supremacist and alt-right sites, running each paragraph through fact checking algorithms, and replying in comments sections with fairly approachable rescinders. Knee-jerk, obvious, sorta dumb. Would it be effective? I doubt it--down-voted and ad hominemed to all hell, but there are more nuanced versions of that idea and I think even that implementation could have value; social problems may have a variety of effective solutions, even technological.

    9. Re:Tech won't fix society by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 1

      It all has value, absolutely! The problem is presenting it as "solution to fake news". This is setting the expectations way too high, and is an impossible bar to reach through that approach.

      With respect to media environment being technological - it's true, but cultural effects still dominate. If Facebook, for example, added some kind of "fake news" indicator on stories, would it help? Probably not - people who read and reshare them will just ignore it, and would describe it as some kind of nefarious attempt by "Silicon Valley liberals" to push their world view on them. Eventually, someone would make browser extensions that would disable it completely, and people would install that.

      Suppose FB just starts censoring such stories outright? Then they'd simply be shared somewhere else, on a (possibly new) social network created to cater to this freshly alienated by huge market. I would imagine that the guys running Breitbart would just love to give it a go.

      Obviously, there are certain social effects - networking etc - that make existing platforms entrenched, and provide barriers to entry for new competitors. But the barriers are not insurmountable, and said social effects can be negated by sufficient amount of inconvenience caused by staying. I assert that any technical solution that is strong enough to actually solve this problem would constitute such sufficient amount of inconvenience.

  10. Re:Fake news, is a distraction, Trump lost by Raenex · · Score: 2

    Are they still paying you to "Correct the Record"?

  11. Sounds familiar? by guestapoo · · Score: 1
    2013 - Head of Xinhua says Western media pushing revolution in China

    Western media organizations are trying to demonize China and promote revolution and national disintegration as they hate seeing the country prosper...
    ...reminding state media of its responsibility to promote a "correct political direction"
    China also needed to combat the distorted view the Western media...
    Li called on mainstream Chinese media to refute "untruthful reports"...

    July 5, 2016 - ‘Fake’ News From Social Media Now Banned in China

    The use of social media as a source of news has become a fixture in the United States—scrolling Twitter feeds appear next to news anchors, and tips from Facebook regularly result in television coverage. But not in China.
    The Chinese Communist Party has recently created a new regulation that describes information from social media as “fake news” and “rumors,” effectively banning its use as a source of information, lest serious consequences follow.

    Jul 4, 2016 - China To Crack Down On Fake News From Social Media Amid Rumor-Mongering

    1. Re:Sounds familiar? by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      Will the SJW in the west try a ranking system within their own brand?
      China 'social credit': Beijing sets up huge system (26 October 2015)
      http://www.bbc.com/news/world-...
      If a SJW does not like a site and they delist it could they get some reward points?
      The more sites they report and ban the more glorious and exclusive the company rewards for heroic efforts?
      Some sort of GUI to track their reward points?

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
  12. Crisis by Dunbal · · Score: 1

    The fact that "fake news" is such an issue this week is - fake news.

    --
    Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
    1. Re:Crisis by serviscope_minor · · Score: 1

      Part of the problem with fake news is that half of the population, such as yourself, seems to have forgotten what "fake" means. Here's a tip: it doesn't mean "anything I think shouldn't be in the news" or "anything that makes my tribe look bad" or "something that challenges opinions which I have an unreasonably strong emotional attachment to". It means fake, as in not real, you know fake.

      The election was rife with fake news, that is lies masquerading as news stories.

      --
      SJW n. One who posts facts.
    2. Re:Crisis by Dunbal · · Score: 1

      It means fake, as in not real, you know fake.

      Exactly. Like when someone is pushing an agenda across multiple "news" sites. Like the sudden outbreak of stories about "fake news" stories.

      --
      Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
    3. Re:Crisis by serviscope_minor · · Score: 1

      Are you claiming that there were not in fact quite a large number widely shared stories masquerading as news?

      --
      SJW n. One who posts facts.
    4. Re:Crisis by Dunbal · · Score: 1

      Are you claiming that multiple news sites decide to report on it this week out of sheer coincidence? I'll bet you think the Facebook movie came out just a few months before the Facebook IPO by sheer luck, too.

      --
      Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
    5. Re:Crisis by serviscope_minor · · Score: 1

      Answer the question ans stop weaselling. Are you claiming that there was not a glut of stories masquerading as news?

      Are you claiming that multiple news sites decide to report on it this week out of sheer coincidence?

      You know I've re-read my dictionary twice now[*] and I'm failing to see how that has any bearing on the word "fake". Fake does not mean "something that you personally don't like" or "something happening in a way that you personally don't like".

      It doesn't matter if there has been collusion up to the eyeballs if the glut of misleading stories masquerading as news actually happened then it is news that it happened whether or not you happen to approve. If it is actual news then it is by definition, not fake.

      [*]Not really.

      --
      SJW n. One who posts facts.
  13. Reminds me of 1984 Ministry of Truth by Idisagree · · Score: 2

    The thought police from 1984 called, they want their ideas back!

    1. Re:Reminds me of 1984 Ministry of Truth by AHuxley · · Score: 2

      A SJW totally removes a site from their brands search results.
      Then contacts other SJW teams at a few archive sites to remove any other versions that might have been kept over the years.
      Then alters the search position of any site that linked to the now delisted site.
      Got to make sure the memory hole https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... is proactive for any linked sites. What about .edu sites that used the site in publications?
      What if the site is mentioned in an academic setting or quoted in parts? A search might still find some trace that site.
      Contact SJW teams on campus to correct the digital results.
      A printed version might still quote from the site... have physical texts quoting the site that can no longer be found removed from the library or department.
      With digital access to a few key search sites and archives a SJW team could really make the internet into a huge safe space.
      Then work to remove the sites that linked to the original site or within that site.
      Warn authors and publishers never to mention the site or get removed and banned as an author and publisher.
      A search engine that has vast numbers of SJW staff removing sites, books, authors, publishers vs their own teams trying to search the web?
      How long will it take for a real search engine brand that actually finds all results on the net to start trending?
      How to brand a safe space search engine with no ability to search the net?

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
  14. What is truth, what is fact, and when? by ray-auch · · Score: 2

    One problem is that much that is disputed is also time-sensitive, what is "fact" changes over time, sometimes because more "facts" become known, sometimes because they turn out to be false. You can try and check that something was factual _when_ it was published, but on the web publications can be trivially updated.

    Take this: https://www.facebook.com/thein...

    Lovely video on fact-checking, except that it doesn't fact-check itself, the google search shown in the video turns up loads of results that are reporting the story as news (and about an equal number reporting it as fake), the video claims a google search will not find the story, maybe it didn't when the video was made, but the video is _now_ demonstrably false itself.

    At the end of the day whether you use Google, Snopes or Upworthy for fact checking, you are still trusting someone else to curate your news and therefore are subject to their biases and agendas.

  15. 4 more years for Obama by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    That's the solution!

  16. Easy by nospam007 · · Score: 2

    Just read the National Enquirer and The Onion, to learn what fake news are.

    If you read about a giant underwater crystal pyramid, found in the depths of the Bermuda triangle and you think this could be true, you are too stupid to vote.

    1. Re:Easy by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      The Onion isn't fake news; it's spoof news.

      P.S. A word can end in s without being a plural.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    2. Re:Easy by michael_wojcik · · Score: 1

      A word can end in s without being a plural.

      Certainly one can. In this case, though, it is (etymologically) plural; "news" is the plural of "new". It's just a plural that by convention is constructed as a singular noun, or arguably as a unitless mass plural one. English lets a word be etymologically and grammatically plural while enjoying singular usage, because English lets its speakers and writers do pretty much whatever they damn well please.

  17. There's only one solution to fake news... by SlovakWakko · · Score: 5, Insightful

    There's only one solution to fake news, and that is for people to take interest in the world around them, to be informed about politics outside of the 3 final months of the US presidential race and to have enough information to be able to weigh the probability that a source is trustworthy and that a story is plausible. Implausible, sensational stories and stories from unknown sources have to be verified. Either do this, or be lazy, stay dumb, do not participate and let others decide how you'll live. An easy first step - don't get your news from facebook and twitter!

  18. Use Web Annotation Tools by Mandrel · · Score: 4, Interesting

    There are tools like Genius that allow web pages to be annotated beyond the control of the publisher (attaching comments to highlighted text), allowing lies to be challenged in-situ, before their sharing reaches critical mass.

    But for this to make a difference, you'd have to ensure that the annotations are widely seen. An annotation system should come with the default install of web browsers (including the Facebook internal one), and if not enabled by default, the user should be asked whether they want it enabled.

    But this wouldn't fix the problem of fake articles being popular simply because they tell people something shocking that panders to what they want to hear. Readers sometimes don't care about the truth. They want the entertainment, smugness, and social bonding of an interesting and validating lie. The National Enquirer problem. So it's acceptable if annotations just damp the problem down, rather than eliminate it.

    1. Re:Use Web Annotation Tools by Mandrel · · Score: 1

      Genius annotations have up/down thumbs, so a well-argued one will likely have greater prominence.

      To prevent agree/disagree wars, I'd actually get rid of the down-mods, or at least name them like Slashdot.

  19. fake startups by zephvark · · Score: 2

    >The article also suggests this effort may one day spawn fake news-fighting tech startups.

    I love it! Fake tech startups that fight news! How do I get in on the ground floor? Fund me! Oooh ooh! Fund me!

    1. Re:fake startups by michael_wojcik · · Score: 1

      You've convinced me! Your fake check is in the fake mail.

      Really, I can't see why people are so down on this story. "A bunch of people have decided to talk about a thing, and they're taking notes in a Google doc." Pretty remarkable stuff.

  20. What's even scarier than fake news by execthis · · Score: 1

    What's even scarier than fake news is when news is blacked out. Fake news is not something one would never expect, even if we did not live in a society in which the mainstream media is controlled to an extremely high degree.

    I remember at least a couple major incidents of GMO contamination which literally made headlines across the rest of the world and which were almost completely blacked out of all US media. When you witness this kind of blanket blackout a few times you realize just how extensively MSM is controlled.

    Also on the issue of fake news - someone should go back to 2003 and investigate the "repenting shield" fake news stories just before the US started bombing Iraq.

    1. Re:What's even scarier than fake news by knorthern+knight · · Score: 1

      > What's even scarier than fake news is when news is blacked out. Fake news
      > is not something one would never expect, even if we did not live in a society
      > in which the mainstream media is controlled to an extremely high degree.

      Suppresion of real news makes nutty conspiracies more believable. How many people are aware that JFK was screwing more women than Bill Clinton could hope for? But the lib-left media kept quiet, even though they knew, because JFK was a Democrat. They also kept quiet for Bill Clinton's sexcapades. It was a store clerk (Matt Drudge), with a modem and a website ( http://drudgereport.com/ ) who finally broke the story http://drudgereportarchives.co...

      Note that Newsweek knew about the story, but decided to kill it. After the story first broke, Bill Clinton denied, denied, denied. Nowadays, when a nutty conspiracy theory comes out, it's quashed by the MSM and government denies, denies, denies. Maybe this time they're telling the truth. But, like "the boy who cried wolf", they've lost their credibility to fight nutty conspiracy theories. The lib-left big media are to blame for the current state of affirs.

      --

      I'm not repeating myself
      I'm an X window user; I'm an ex-Windows user
  21. It's not fake news they're hunting, it's the truth by sethstorm · · Score: 3, Insightful

    To the left, "fake news" is a smear given to anything that doesn't fit their narrative.

    --
    Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
  22. "untruthful" - LOL. Do they mean "fake"? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Oh, they mean the MSM is losing control because most people don't believe their endless LIES any more, so they are now attempting to (yet again) tell us all how stupid we are, and that non-MSM websites are reporting "fake" news - i.e. anything the JEW doesn't want you to hear.

  23. News, like democracy, need mature people by Opportunist · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The nice thing about having a free press is that they can report just how it is and needn't toe the party line. Unfortunately people equated "can tell the truth" with "do tell the truth".

    You can actually see that very well in the development of the former East Bloc. Back in the day of the Iron Curtain, the people in the former East Bloc were pretty good at spotting bullshit news. Why? They knew that most of what they read, hear and see as news IS bullshit. And yes, that ability deteriorated quickly after their media became "free".

    The problem is that the same still applies. Most of what is reported as news is bullshit. Fake. Blended with opinion (to the point of being more opinion than information). At the very least distorted by omission. But people never learned to notice that. Because they were used to having "free" media, and they trusted them for the reasons mentioned above: They equated "can say the truth" with "do say the truth".

    This has to change. "Filtering" fake news at some higher level will not work. Because the fakers will just cry censorship and find enough idiots to fight their fight. You need an informed population that is able and willing to invest the time necessary to tell fake from real themselves.

    And no, I don't think either that this is possible. At best you can do it for yourself and at least keep yourself from falling for the next news item that belongs into Weekly World News rather than some reputable news outlet.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  24. Re:Fake news, is a distraction, Trump lost by popo · · Score: 3, Informative

    What? Someone apparently needs a civics lesson. That's not how our democracy works. We have a "democratic republic". What you're referring to is a "direct democracy", which we don't have (for good reason).

    As a test though, I suggest you take a vote and ask how many Americans want free housing, free food, free education and free Netflix. Then come back to me and tell me how well your juvenile "Winner takes all" voting is working out.

    --
    ------ The best brain training is now totally free : )
  25. This is a rare opportunity by Cytotoxic · · Score: 1

    It is rare that an early internet meme is perfectly applicable. Yet here we are. And still no one has posted the obvious.... so here it goes:

    They are proposing a massive system to become the final arbiter of truth.

      What could possibly go wrong?

  26. That is not fake news by aepervius · · Score: 1

    Fake news is announcing intentionally something which never happened with the intent of hoaxing the reader. Do you confuse bad-quality-news which do not go for your narrative, with fake news. Fake news would be that the policeman killing brown was a KKK honcho for the region. That's fake with the intention of hoaxing the person.

    --
    C. Sagan : A demon haunted world:
    http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345409469/
    visit randi.org
    1. Re:That is not fake news by nbauman · · Score: 1

      That's right. News based on eyewitness accounts isn't fake news.

      Parent is saying that the news media should believe the police accounts and ignore the eyewitnesses.

      Eyewitness accounts are often wrong. Police accounts are often wrong.

      People are often convicted of crimes and sentenced to death based on eyewitness accounts. That's what the Innocence Project found out when they used DNA tests to double-check those accounts.

      Every criminal defense lawyer knows that police give false testimony, and bribe witnesses to give false testimony. They sometimes get caught by DNA testing and video evidence. So why should you assume that the police are telling the truth?

      You need to listen to both sides of the story, and wait for more facts to develop. That's pretty much what the mainstream news media did.

    2. Re: That is not fake news by kenai_alpenglow · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Like claiming the riot was due to a badly produced Mohammed video on YouTube.

  27. Re:It's not fake news they're hunting, it's the tr by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

    To the alt-right, fake news is the excuse for ignoring anything that contradicts their narrative.

    In fact, it's the foundation if their fantasy world.

    --
    const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
    SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  28. Re:Well then CNN and the Wall Street Journal? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2

    Misinformation has existed for as long as there have been people.

    Now that a self-appointed liberal Messiah has lost the election (which in her mined she was pre-ordained to win), suddenly fake news is a "problem" and the reason for losing the election.

    Fuck off. Your shitty scumbag candidate lost to some other shitty scumbag candidate.

    Stop worrying about the electoral college and fake news, and worry about your corrupt political party that engaged in such egregious lying and cheating that people were willing to vote for someone else, anyone,else, no matter how horrible, just to keep her from winning.

  29. Re:Fake news, is a distraction, Trump lost by Kierthos · · Score: 1

    So, of course, you have proof of millions of votes coming from illegal/undocumented aliens? And, of course, you have proof of dead people voting in substantial enough numbers to make a difference?

    --
    Mr. Hu is not a ninja.
  30. Decentralized information by new_01 · · Score: 1

    Is going to be here soon. IPFS, ZeroNet, Maidsafe, plus decentralized DNS through Namecoin is going to take hold and these people won't be able to censor anything. Everyone needs to be playing with these technologies right now. They are going to try and silence us and retake control of your information stream.

  31. Re:Fake news, is a distraction, Trump lost by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    [Citation needed]

    But seriously, these claims about dead people voting have been debunked to death, fake news stories on your favorite neo-nazi website notwithstanding.

    It amazes me how people are so convinced that the democrats were trying to rig the election. If they were, in fact, trying to rig the election, they would have been much more confident in the election. So confident that they might even claim that the only way they could lose is if the Trump campaign themselves cheated even more successfully. Hillary would have refused to accept the election results if she lost, knowing that such a loss was impossible unless her opponent was also cheating. There would be discrepancies, e.g., higher victory margins for Hillary in precincts with electronic voting, an unusually high number of absentee ballots cast for Hillary, etc. Since none of these things happened, suggesting that may have Hillary cheated seems... we,, fucking stupid.

  32. Running with the narrative huh... by Fragnet · · Score: 1

    This "fake news" narrative is bollocks. People seek out news and information that confirms their preexisting prejudices. If people are believing "fake news" it's an issue for the education system to deal with - i.e. stop pumping out unthinking drones lacking in a broad general knowledge. Algorithms and people tagging stories as fake is extremely sinister.

  33. Fake, Fact and Fiction by richardkettle4 · · Score: 1

    It is not even clear to me what 'fake' news is: not genuine? A counterfeit? A copy? For that is what we mean by the word. Be careful what you wish for; for who could verify political 'genuineness' other than politicians? Perhaps we are thinking of 'it is fiction'. As opposed to 'facts'. But is it? Are the stories 'fiction'? Well, I read fiction every day and, guess what, I know it is fiction by the very content. Perhaps it is 'false', as opposed to 'true'? How could we verify that? And you are, of course, allowed to define truth as you wish. But are you really prepared to allow news outlets, political parties and FaceBook to define this? This would be a new definition of truth, and, of course, a novel use of 'genuine' news. Rather, most parts of our lives are not dominated by these politically and metaphysically loaded concepts. Do not give them up, but put them in their right place. Replace Psychology below with anything you wish: The confusion and barrenness of psychology is not to be explained by calling it a "young science"; its state is not comparable with that of physics, for instance, in its beginnings. (Rather with that of certain branches of mathematics. Set theory.) For in psychology there are experimental methods and conceptual confusion. (As in the other case, conceptual confusion and methods of proof.) The existence of the experimental method makes us think we have the means of solving the problems which trouble us; though problem and method pass one another by. An investigation is possible in connexion with mathematics which is entirely analogous to our investigation of psychology. It is just as little a mathematical investigation as the other is a psychological one. It will not contain calculations, so it is not for example logistic. It might deserve the name of an investigation of the 'foundations of mathematics'.

    1. Re:Fake, Fact and Fiction by serviscope_minor · · Score: 1

      It is not even clear to me what 'fake' news is

      Then you're being obtuse and ignoring reality. This election cycle there have been an awful lot of stories circulated on social media linking to supposed news sources which are in fact nothing more than collections of outright lies. IOW lies masquerading as news stories.

      The rest of your post reads like a paragraph-break free collection of sophistry trying to rationalize away reality.

      --
      SJW n. One who posts facts.
    2. Re:Fake, Fact and Fiction by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      # Radio [clap] wall of text [clap] is it a pi;le of bullshit?
      I don't know [clap] I don't care [clap] I can't be arsed to read it ... /#

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  34. Re:Well then CNN and the Wall Street Journal? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Speaking as an outside observer, fake news was seen as a problem in the US long before your presedential elections. The amazing stupidity of the "Obama is a Muslim" and "Obama wasn't born in the US" are just the tip of the iceberg. To the outside world, you look like a nation sick with paranoid delusions.

  35. Re:It's not fake news they're hunting, it's the tr by rholtzjr · · Score: 2

    And to the right, fake news is the current MSM. What's the difference?

    I would say bringing back journalistic integrity and not provide opinions would be a good start.

  36. Re:It's not fake news they're hunting, it's the tr by richardkettle4 · · Score: 1

    'in fact' ? Whose facts are those? And if you think there are only one set of facts that someone are true for all, well, you are a bad observer of the world.

  37. Re:Fake news, is a distraction, Trump lost by rholtzjr · · Score: 1

    Really????? A +4 Interesting on an AC post???? Quit moderating and posting as AC at the same time.

  38. We Can Do Better by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    > There's only one solution to fake news, and that is for people to take interest in the world around them,

    And yet, we could do a whole lot better at giving people tools that help them accomplish that. Helping people be more effective at whatever they need to do is the entire reason we have computers and the internet.

  39. Re:Fake news, is a distraction, Trump lost by DatbeDank · · Score: 1

    America isn't a direct democracy and never was. It's a constitutional republic. You vote to tell your electoral college member how to place their vote (yes there have been faithless electors, but it has been rare).

    If those extra "Hillary" votes happened to appear in a place where an elector was republican and swap the vote, then the extra votes would matter.

    If you look at the voting by counties, the majority of those extra votes came in from Los Angeles and New York City. who had already been allocated to Hillary.

  40. Re: What about Laura Ingraham? by unixisc · · Score: 1

    More like she adopted Russian kids, she must be in the tank for Putin, and is a liaison b/w him and Trump. Never mind that she's been a conservative voice since the 90s

  41. Re:What about Laura Ingraham? by unixisc · · Score: 1

    Since her first kid was from Guatemala, why doesn't she spend time getting illegals from Guatemala here? If her next 2 Russian kids are the reason for her support for Trump?

  42. Re:It's not fake news they're hunting, it's the tr by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    That's my real fear with this - that people are buying in to the idea that "fake news" is a problem that needs a new layer to fix, instead of looking at traditional news outlets and wondering why they are so untrusted in the first place. It seems to me that if the traditional sources had kept up on journalistic integrity we wouldn't be talking about how to invent another layer of This-is-real-news-this-time-we-mean-it.

    Let's put it another way. Journalistic integrity went out the window because there is money in giving lies the appearance of truth. So once there are new "trusted" fact-checker organizations, they too will experience the pull of money to skew their "facts" to fit backers desires. It's turtles all the way down.

  43. Stopping the spread of fake news, by Grand+Facade · · Score: 1

    Will be more difficult than stopping spam.

    Any solution will result in litigation with claims of discrimination or rights voilatiions

    --
    Rick B.
    1. Re:Stopping the spread of fake news, by Grand+Facade · · Score: 1

      And if it was blocked where would slashdot get it's news feeds?

      --
      Rick B.
    2. Re:Stopping the spread of fake news, by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      where would slashdot get it's news feeds?

      From here.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  44. That's not going to work by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    unless you're going to mandate it (e.g. by compulsory voting). You massively underestimate just how little time people have. Most have 2 jobs (or work equivalent hours) and multiple children.

    A better (though longer term) solution would be to pump up the liberal arts in college. It's the only chance people have to learn critical thinking. That's 'learn critical thinking', not 'be genetically predisposed to it'. When it comes to the sciences all but a handful of geniuses are just memorizing things. That's not going to change, there just aren't enough humans wired that way. That's where the liberal arts comes in. It's the one place where just about anyone can be taught that there's deeper meaning to something they're reading or watching. It's a place where the truly awful history of mankind can be taught too. Ever notice how the rich make sure _their_ kids have a well rounded education? Ever ask yourself why?

    Of course, _nobody_ likes paying the liberal arts. After all, how ya gonna pay bills with a philosophy degree, amiright?

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
    1. Re:That's not going to work by SlovakWakko · · Score: 1

      Yep, you're right. I also agree with you that people need to be educated in ways of maintaining democracy, but I think college is too late - and too important for your financial prospects to waste it on liberal arts as you pointed out. It has to be done in middle school + high school. But it's quite difficult to push through any political establishment an education in navigating the lies, propaganda, corruption, appeals to our baser instincts, emotional blackmail and empty promises of said political establishment :)

      OT: Anyway, I don't think that "fake news" is really an issue. It's been here for ages and it's being targeted by your media now just so that the political elites and their allied MSM who have lost an election (to a candidate considered a joke) don't have to face the fact that they are completely disconnected from the people they are supposed to represent. The same happened in my country earlier this year, when people disenchanted with our political elites voted an ultra-nationalist party into our parliament. Just so you see the similarity with Trump/Clinton - before the elections here, our prime minister said about the leader of the ultra-nationalists that "only a bag of potatoes could loose against him". And just as in your elections, the ultra-nationalists have been severely underestimated in the pre-election polls. The difference is, nobody tried to blame "fake news" for their own shortcomings. We prefer to blame the MSM instead, and our prime minister actually used the term "dirty, anti-slovak prostitutes" :)

      Final OT: Voting for anti-establishment parties is a common popular reaction to economic troubles (see http://www.lse.ac.uk/economicH...) and I'm tempted to think that someone in GOP showed a real genius by allowing Trump, widely seen as anti-establishment, to win the primaries. While for us educated liberals it looked like Trump is the only candidate who could loose against the reviled, corrupt, crony and hawkish Clinton, in fact it was quite the opposite - Trump was the ideal candidate, vulgar enough and hated by the political elites, to win the election for GOP.

  45. Re:Make fake news punishable by death by arth1 · · Score: 1

    We can pretty much pin all this down on a single man: Rupert Murdoch. He's single-handedly responsible for cutting out real journalism, where there was fact and source checking, and a desk with editors empowered to send something back, and copyeditors making sure that what was said made sense. Instead a single person with desktop publishing was allowed to take on all the roles, with little or no verification. When he started doing this, others had no choice but to follow suit, due to the high costs of doing real journalism.

    Bring back the well-populated desk. When the mainstream news outlets start fact checking again, it doesn't matter what self-published fake news there is - it won't make it to mainstream news.

  46. Re:It's not fake news they're hunting, it's the tr by Mashiki · · Score: 1

    Those facts? They're the ones WAPO is pushing. You know, the fact that news aggregators like Drudge are now "fake news" in their eyes. Or wikileaks is "fake news." This bullshit is getting bad enough that even left-wing journalists are calling the entire thing bullshit, and for good reason. Where does it get good? Well just dig a bit, though the ASN is still pointing at google.

    --
    Om, nomnomnom...
  47. Re:Well then CNN and the Wall Street Journal? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Stop worrying about the electoral college and fake news, and worry about your corrupt political party that engaged in such egregious lying and cheating that people were willing to vote for someone else, anyone,else, no matter how horrible, just to keep her from winning.

    Please learn to differentiate between actual fake news and news that you merely disagree with.

    Fake news: "Donald Trump has a plan to rape everyone on the planet." (or on the Democratic side, "Pizzagate!") Partisan bias: "Donald Trump works for Russia!" (or on the Democratic side, "Hillary has secret plan to start WW3!")
    News You Might Disagree With: "Voting Trump will effectively cede Syria to Russia, and that's fine because Syria was a Russian client state before the war, and now it's a pile of rubble. Not our problem." (or on the Democratic side, "Hillary advocates a no-fly zone over Syria and this position might result in a shooting down of a Russian jet which would cause a major diplomatic incident, possibly leading to war.")

  48. Re:It's not fake news they're hunting, it's the tr by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Give up on this "alt-right" bullshit. It does not exist. That term is just the latest attempt to smear conservatives with the typical bullshit ad hominem garbage "racist, sexist, homophobic, etc etc". Racist dirtbags existed before and, sadly, will continue to exist. Nazi-types are not right-wing. Funny how leftists love to push that though. National Socialism is a leftist ideology.

    You folks also were against freeing the slaves and ran the KKK as your political enforcement arm but you've been disturbingly successful at convincing the bulk of this low-information nation that those were right-wing endeavors. Congrats??

  49. Re:It's not fake news they're hunting, it's the tr by serviscope_minor · · Score: 1

    To the left, "fake news" is a smear given to anything that doesn't fit their narrative.

    I have noticed that the things that alt right nutjobs screech most loudly that "the left" do seem to be much more common among those same nutjobs than among the left. It's almost as if you believe that by yelling and screaming louder than anyone you can alter reality.

    Also, about 99.6% of the time "narrative" appears in a post that's not about fiction, it's an indication that the person using it is an idiot.

    --
    SJW n. One who posts facts.
  50. After the defeat of mainstream media by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    After the defeat of mainstream media in the election, there's suddenly an onslaught of fake news campaign. Coincidence?

  51. Re:Fake news, is a distraction, Trump lost by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 1

    The dead certainly vote. Here's a list of 438 voter fraud convictions that is just a small list of the total number of voter fraud cases over the last few elections. It's a real issue. Why don't we do what Canada and Mexico do - require photo ID to vote?

    --
    Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
  52. Re:It's not fake news they're hunting, it's the tr by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    The New York Times held regular meetings to discuss the "narrative" and to decide what news would support it, or how to spin news that didn't. Many news outlets coordinated news releases for political purposes on the Journo-list email discussion group. The Clinton campaign had high-ranking representives in every news service except Fox that were "reliable surrogates" that could be used to deliver the same, pre-determined, message - a 'narrative', if you will.

    There is plenty of evidence of news companies cooperating to deliver a message with a consistent, non-neutral, tone.

  53. There is no Real News by Attila+Dimedici · · Score: 3, Insightful

    To whatever degree that fake news was successful, its success was a result of traditional news sources being unreliable. If the Washington Post, the New York Times, et al had not completely committed themselves to getting Hillary elected, no matter what lies they needed to tell to do so, people would have been able to spot the fake news. Unfortunately, "real news" no more reflected the facts than "fake news".

    --
    The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted. James Madison
  54. Parody? by denzacar · · Score: 1

    You should look up that word... I do not think it means what you think it means.

    Also words like "story", "fable", "imagined", "prose", "satire", "novel"...

    --
    Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
  55. Re:It's not fake news they're hunting, it's the tr by PJ6 · · Score: 1

    To the left, "fake news" is a smear given to anything that doesn't fit their narrative.

    How did this get modded +4 Insightful?

    Slashdot's been flawed for years, but this up-modding of obvious trolls seems to be new.

    And this whole left versus right bullshit is getting quite old.

  56. Re:Well then CNN and the Wall Street Journal? by slashrio · · Score: 1

    The only solution to 'fake news' is your own investigation and subsequent judgement.
    No institute can do that for you.
    This so called 'group of volunteers' probably is another fake grass root Soros funded clique aiming at credibility but soon to transform into a pro-main stream media fake news, and anti-alternative real news, propaganda organization.
    Sorry buddy, you will have to do it yourself, and all the brain dead people that are looking to be able to just consume their daily 'real news' will get corporate government approved really fake non-news.

    --
    "Trump!!", the new Godwin.
  57. Liberal projection by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    They warn that Trump will contest the election results if he loses; they are the ones calling for a recount.
    They warn that Trump will censor the news; they are the ones that want to prevent "fake" news through human and algorithmic intervention

  58. Who is driving this agenda? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I had never heard the term "Fake News" used in this particular context before about two weeks ago. Now there are dozens of new stories every day. Who is driving this agenda? I don't believe "PropOrNot" started this whole thing. Somebody is bankrolling this entire effort and we should all be worried.

    "Fake News" has been around since the beginning of time, the main difference now is you can actually check any story in seconds with a few clicks of the mouse. In 1000 BC when a wild rumor about your neighbor sacrificing children to Baal, the only fact check you could do was with your own eyes. In 1800 if some political flier was nailed to the wall accusing a politician of taking bribes, one had little means to cross-check. Fake News is LESS of an issue today than ever in human history.

  59. Re:Fake news, is a distraction, Trump lost by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 1

    What State does not offer free ID for those who cannot afford it? In California and Washington (the two States I've lived in) there are free IDs for the poor. What State does not offer such thing?

    --
    Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
  60. What about all the fake news from MSM? by walterbyrd · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Is the mass media responsible for fabricating stories and inciting riots? Seems to me the media routinely fans the flames of racial division by releasing false information.

    Remember the Charlotte riots? The media first reported that Keith Scott was unarmed. This was a major factor that led to the riots. Turns out, Keith Scott was armed. Is this a case of media fabrications causing riots?
    In the 2014 shooting of Michael Brown, the media first reported that Brown was on his knees with his hands up. Turns out, that was another media fabrication which also led to riots.

    In the Ahmed Mohamed clock incident, the media first reported that Ahmed was just building a clock, as a project for his electronics class, but the principal called the police because Ahmed was a Muslim. Turns out, that was another media fabrication. Ahmed used a clock that he bought at a department store, along with a briefcase and other props, to make a fake bomb. In a post-Columbine world, what should the principal have done? What if it had been a bomb? BTW: although he was richly rewarded for this stunt, Ahmed has been posting extremely anti-American rants: he called the 9/11 attacks self defense, he supports BLM, and much more.

    When George Michael Zimmerman shot Trayvon Martin, the media first posted photos of an 11 year old Trayvon. Months after the incident, some people still believed that Zimmerman attacked a small child, which was not the case. Trayvon was an athletic 5'11" and 160 lbs. and was beating the snot out of Zimmerman. Maybe Zimmerman was not justified in shooting Trayvon, but Trayvon was not an 11 year child, and the media tried to insinuate.

    1. Re: What about all the fake news from MSM? by wyHunter · · Score: 1

      Your point is an excellent one about Zimmerman and cops lying, but that is not the focus of this discussion, it's "fake news." The point was that the "mainstream" media lie, all that time, which has led to alternate news. (Whether it's fake or not I couldn't say. I'm sure some is, I'm sure some isn't.) What I find most shocking is that people in the US and perhaps other western democracies are actually thinking censorship of 'fake news' is a good thing. Perhaps if mainstream media was trustworthy and reported facts rather than their own opinion, this wouldn't be an issue.

  61. Fake according to whose narrative? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Fake according to whose narrative?

    Fake on what grounds?
    Incorrect facts?
    Incorrect conclusions?
    Lack of journalistic integrity?
    One sided, or nonobjective?

    There are multiple examples of all of these from every one of our main stream media services.

    The problem I have with this is that the true objective is to filter news, that will basically result in censorship.

    What we have right now is one side that is very well organized and funded, running a very large propaganda and phsycological operation on the American public. The only problem being encountered by them, is that some news doesn't fit their narrative.

  62. GrokLaw already solved this. by Hylandr · · Score: 1

    Confirm any 'news' you read with a trusted friend in the area.

    I live near Portland and recently seen the following article, and asked a long time friend it's true:

    https://news.slashdot.org/stor...

    When I hear back, I will know if it's trustworthy or not.

    Problem solved.

    --
    ~ People that think they are better than anyone else for any reason are the cause of all the strife in the world.
    1. Re:GrokLaw already solved this. by Hylandr · · Score: 1

      Answer:

      Me: Can you confirm this one?
      Friend: Yes, though its been fixed. They pushed out a firmware update that reset the systems.

      Was that so hard?

      --
      ~ People that think they are better than anyone else for any reason are the cause of all the strife in the world.
  63. Re:Fake news, is a distraction, Trump lost by rmckeethen · · Score: 2

    You didn't actually read through any of the data on those sites you linked to, huh? If you had, you might have discovered:

    1. The voting dead turn-out to be just three individuals in Colorado, one of which administrators at the Secretary of State's office admit may have been due to a mistake by an election judge.
    2. The list of 438 voter fraud convictions is across all 50 states, and some of those convictions go back to at least 1982. However, it does include Republican Charlie White, the former Indiana Secretary of State, who was convicted of voter fraud, -- among other crimes -- back in 2012.

    Overall, the data you've cited actually supports what most experts are saying regarding voter fraud; not that voter fraud doesn't ever happen, but that it happens so infrequently that it's not affecting the results of elections.

    Of course, if you look at the statistics behind recent voter ID laws, you'll see that these laws are aimed squarely at black voters, in an attempt to suppress the black voter in favor of white voters, who are more likely to vote Republican.

  64. Re:Well then CNN and the Wall Street Journal? by AutodidactLabrat · · Score: 1

    "Self-appointed" liberal messiah?
    You mean the person the PEOPLE voted for, by majority rule?

  65. Re:Well then CNN and the Wall Street Journal? by AutodidactLabrat · · Score: 1

    No, mostly it would be actual grass roots
    Because, you know, it wasn't Soros paying all the fake news trolls on Facebook
    That was the Kochsucker brigade

  66. Re:Make fake news punishable by death by Hylandr · · Score: 1

    He's put together an argument that is much more sound than your dismissal as a conspiracy theory masqueraded as sarcasm.

    Do you have any credible hypothesis to the contrary of his suggestion?

    --
    ~ People that think they are better than anyone else for any reason are the cause of all the strife in the world.
  67. anti freedom idiots. by wyHunter · · Score: 1

    For all these anti-freedom lefties and righties, "Fake news" merely means "News I don't agree with." May they all die a horrible death.

  68. Re:Fake news, is a distraction, Trump lost by doom · · Score: 1

    America isn't a direct democracy and never was. It's a constitutional republic. You vote to tell your electoral college member how to place their vote (yes there have been faithless electors, but it has been rare).

    Rare, but nevertheless allowed, and built-in to the system for a reason (and I keep wondering who invented that phrase "faithless"...).

    Once again, if you guys want to change the system, feel free to try for that, but quit pretending the system is something different than it is.

  69. Let them be stupid by pabloesgalhardo · · Score: 1

    But what can they do??!! The only way for a person to avoid lies is to be informed and sceptical. How can you have a consumerist economy with such public? Let them be dumb, its better for Facebook and all

  70. Re:Ok, both parties are complicit, happy? by RyoShin · · Score: 1

    No, the buck stops back in Congress who can overturn the Veto. While their majority wasn't Veto-proof, I can't see them having a hard time getting (D) Congresscritters on board if Obama was willing to sign off on it in the first place.

    Consider, also, that Obama would have nothing to sign or veto if not for Congress first passing it.

  71. What kind of society do we want? by wermske · · Score: 1

    There is a difference between censorship and accountability. The intentional act of swearing a false oath or of falsifying an affirmation to tell the truth is already a well documented crime. There is a reason society has determined this to be necessary -- it is harmful to civil society. As proscriptions against slander and liable have emerged over time to address wrongs in society, we need a new element in the law that combats intentional, harmful, or negligent deceit.

    We must confront the reality that the intentional or negligent act of creating or advancing untruth (and/or selective truth) in the guise of reporting whole truth is also harmful to civil society.

    Fake news is a sticky hairball that transforms even the most intelligent, well-intentioned people into deceitful reprobates. Fake news is short term individual gain at the expense of long term social pain. Every untruth that is contrived and/or propagated diminishes us as a whole. The sooner we (collectively) reach a tipping point of understanding that untruth in all its forms is a net negative, the sooner we can stop bitching about specific rotten trees and start practicing good forestry.

    Of what kind of society do we wish to be a part?

    1. I want a society where I don't feel the need to advantage myself with untruths. I want a society where all untruth is shunned and even the "little white lie" is heart-wrenching and demoralizing.
    2. I want a society where "news" is differentiated from "opinion." I want a society where "news" is the whole truth; not a sensational sound-bite.

    I believe that fake news is a crime against civilization and society. I believe those who use fake news to harm individuals, groups, or society as a whole should be punished and/or rehabilitated.

    Let us be clear... This is not an American problem nor a Russian problem nor a Chinese problem nor an Indian problem. This is not a Christian problem nor a Muslim problem nor a Jewish problem nor a problem of non-Abrahamic systems of faith or practice. This is not a Liberal problem nor a Conservative problem nor a problem for the rich or poor. This is not a problem for academics, laborers, financiers nor hard working house-spouses. This is a problem for all humanity... it is a test of our humanity.

    We as global citizens must demand better in a global information age, lest we suffer the consequences of our unwillingness to stand up against a tyranny of deceit. We must demand better from the Platonian Philosopher Kings that reign over technology and media and, if necessary, hold them accountable as purveyors of deceit. We are living Toffler's FutureShock. We must be as determined to die for the truth that we find discomforting as we are that which comforts us -- because deceit is the mothers milk of tyranny and suffering -- because the fight for truth is noble, righteous, and just.

    Perhaps some cultures may need to cut out the tongues of those convicted of speaking falsehood. Perhaps some cultures need to cut off fingers and hands of those convicted of writing falsehoods. For my culture, the sooner we can try and punish criminal deceit and litigate tortious deceit for compensatory and punitive damages -- the sooner we will rediscover news with integrity and journalism that uplifts society. Any crime against society must be met with a level of barbarity such that none in that society dare transgress. We stop being civilized if we abdicate truth.

    Musavada veramani sikkhapadam samadiyami. (pali)