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Facebook Is Clamping Down On Fake News, Partners With Fact Checkers To Flag Stories (slate.com)

After weeks of criticism over its role in spreading fake news during and after the 2016 U.S. Presidential election, Facebook said today it is taking concrete steps to halt the sharing of hoaxes on its platform. From a report on Slate: The company announced on Thursday several new features designed to identify, flag, and slow the spread of false news stories on its platform, including a partnership with third-party fact-checkers such as Snopes and PolitiFact. It is also taking steps to prevent spammers and publishers from profiting from fake news. The new features are relatively cautious and somewhat experimental, which means they may not immediately have the intended effects. But they signal a new direction for a company that has been extremely reticent to take on any editorial oversight of the content posted on its platform. And they are likely to evolve over time as the company tests and refines them. First, it's trying to make it easier for users to report fake news stories. The drop-down menu at the top right of each post in your feed will now include an explicit option to report it as a "fake news story," after which you'll be prompted to choose among multiple options, which include notifying Facebook and messaging the person who shared it.

415 comments

  1. basically doing the same as china? by NotInHere · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Just with different rules about what needs to be banned?

    https://yro.slashdot.org/story...

    1. Re:basically doing the same as china? by MightyMartian · · Score: 5, Insightful

      And once again, Facebook is a private organization, and has the right to remove any content they want to. Don't like it, go use some other social networking platform.

      Of course, that does mean the fake news purveyors are likely to start losing the large audience they had relied on, but is that such a bad thing? There's always Breitbart and Stormfront!

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    2. Re:basically doing the same as china? by admin7087 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Nice trolling. China doesn't do fact checking, they censor. Checking news stories for facts is not censoring but responsible journalism. Whether FB should act as such an editorial filter is another question, but the two things have nothing in common.

    3. Re:basically doing the same as china? by Bartles · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Maybe we should just have the FCC classify them as a common carrier, and then not allow them to favor any particular communication over another that happens to be transmitted across their network.

    4. Re:basically doing the same as china? by DogDude · · Score: 2

      Civics 101:

      The US government has a duty to allow for free speech.
      Private and public businesses don't.

      --
      I don't respond to AC's.
    5. Re:basically doing the same as china? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I just wonder when we should treat them as common carriers. Personally, I don't think companies should be able to censor people on public infrastructure (they couldn't exist without the backbone infrastructure) while not liable for the content their users post. Either they are liable and they can discriminate or they are not liable because it is public. I think there should be some distinction in businesses that enable the rights of citizens compared to a business exercising their rights.

      The rights we value should be absolute and not restrained by corporate interests. They have rights for sure, but they enable the rights of others and they should protect those rights if we truly value them.

    6. Re:basically doing the same as china? by jedidiah · · Score: 1

      They don't have a duty, but you should expect it. Otherwise you're a peasant and the revolution was pointless.

      --
      A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
    7. Re:basically doing the same as china? by Altus · · Score: 1

      Or you could stop using facebook... but I guess thats just too difficult.

      --

      "In America, first you get the sugar, then you get the power, then you get the women..." -H. Simpson

    8. Re:basically doing the same as china? by NotInHere · · Score: 2

      Don't like it, go use some other social networking platform.

      That's the digital life equivalent of "let them eat pie". If your friends are all on that platform, you can't say no.

      Your argument also works for china: if you don't like living in china because of its oppression, just move!

    9. Re:basically doing the same as china? by NotInHere · · Score: 2

      HAHA good luck getting the FCC do anything beyond frequency management with the new administration.

    10. Re:basically doing the same as china? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      You sure about the Public Businesses don't? I know of a baker who was forced to make a cake for a gay couple.....

    11. Re:basically doing the same as china? by Jason+Levine · · Score: 1

      And if Facebook isn't living up to your expectations, you can stop using it. If Facebook thinks their users will benefit from this fact checking, they'll implement it. If users don't like it, they can complain and hope that Facebook relents or they can flee Facebook and go elsewhere. Nobody's forcing you to stay on Facebook.

      For comparison, you are "forced" to accept the US government by virtue of remaining a citizen of the United States of America. You can't simply say "I'm switching to an alternative government" without physically moving out of the country. That gives the US government a much higher degree of control over your life than Facebook has which is why the US government is constrained by the First Amendment.

      --
      My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
    12. Re:basically doing the same as china? by prof_robinson · · Score: 0

      But that's the point...you aren't censored from public "infrastructure". You can still set up a website for yourself and post [pretty much] whatever you want.

    13. Re:basically doing the same as china? by Hylandr · · Score: 1

      Yea I see no possible way this could be abused...

      --
      ~ People that think they are better than anyone else for any reason are the cause of all the strife in the world.
    14. Re: basically doing the same as china? by Bartles · · Score: 1

      Actually that should be about all that the FCC should be allowed to do. My proposal was kind of tongue in cheek. But hey, if we're going to have net neutrality, lets have net neutrality.

    15. Re: basically doing the same as china? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      It's funny how everyone just seems to accept that we have to live through cycles of shit instead of learning how shit things were in the past and trying to avoid trudging through the shit again.

      Enjoy another decade of AOL.

    16. Re:basically doing the same as china? by MightyMartian · · Score: 3, Insightful

      So you're saying that a privately-run website should be required to allow you to post, rather than you simply finding some other private website to publish your posts? Come on, mate. It's one thing to demand a telco not censor your phone calls, quite another to demand that a private answering service at the other end of a phone number propagate your messages to all their mailboxes.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    17. Re:basically doing the same as china? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      At least half of the adult population of the United States uses Facebook; at what point, exactly, does Facebook being a 'private organization' stop mattering?

      Let's sum up all the objectionable things that Facebook does:
      o They censor your content
      o They violate your privacy
      o They sell your private information to 'partner companies' for marketing purposes, whether you want them to or not
      o They track your habits and location, either directly or through analysis of photographs you post, whether you want them to or not
      o They don't let you delete content
      o They don't delete your data when you close your account
      o They're likely giving away information to the NSA, CIA, FBI, HLS, and whatever other government agencies want to snoop on U.S. citizens lives
      o And so much more, that we don't even know about yet, I'm sure

      WHY ARE ANY OF YOU STILL USING FACEBOOK???

    18. Re:basically doing the same as china? by MightyMartian · · Score: 1, Insightful

      And once again, Facebook isn't a country or a government. It is a private website on the Internet,no different than, say, a messaging forum, and such organizations have every right to monitor the content on their sites. Go set up your own site if you wish to send out fake news, don't rely on Facebook to do it.

      I think you alt-right types are just going to have to get used to the idea that the larger online services are not going to be allowing you to use them as a means of spreading your propaganda.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    19. Re:basically doing the same as china? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The point is making those companies impartial just like the infrastructure they operate on. You cannot be denied a phone line for an ideology but you can be denied a platform on that phone line for an ideology.

      Make them impartial and subject to the public interest because they would not exist without the public infrastructure they take advantage of.

    20. Re:basically doing the same as china? by CrimsonAvenger · · Score: 1

      Once FB statrs censoring "news", they are opening themselves up for legal liability for anything they let by.

      Because it's hard to argue "it's not our fault! It was one of our customers that posted that libelous comment about ***whomever***!" when you're making it your business to censor anything and everything that might get some pol upset.

      Safe Harbor provision?? Doesn't apply once you start censoring things. Yeah, this'll work so well. For the lawyers, at least. It'll get them LOTS of new business....

      --

      "I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
    21. Re:basically doing the same as china? by MightyMartian · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Because it's the easiest way for alt-right Nazis to disseminate fake news.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    22. Re:basically doing the same as china? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Also depends on context of facts. And your chosen mix of facts and not facts (90% of what any politician says could be censored based on a "facts" policy). Will breaking news based on exclusive sources be censored if there's no second source to corroborate?

      Then there's the question of when satire will be allowed and not allowed.

    23. Re:basically doing the same as china? by MightyMartian · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The problem for the Alt-right and similar-minded groups outside the US is that services like Facebook and Twitter have very wide distribution, which means their fake news stories can go viral very quickly, for maximum effect. If they're stuck on 4chan, Breitbart and whatever other Internet sewers they usually frequent, about the only thing they're going to be doing is hate-mongering circle jerks. If Facebook is no longer available for them to invent stories about Democrat pedophilia rings, then they're fucked. Thus they protest this a great deal.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    24. Re: basically doing the same as china? by tripleevenfall · · Score: 5, Insightful

      At least AOL wasn't trying to pass Snopes and Polifact off as being unbiased.

    25. Re:basically doing the same as china? by DaHat · · Score: 1

      And once again, Facebook isn't a country or a government.

      I'm unaware of anyone saying they are...

      It is a private website on the Internet,

      Shut up and bake the damn cake! Oh... or does being able to say no only apply to online cake makers?

      There does come in an interesting philosophical question: Companies like Facebook today have a degree of power over communication never imagined by the founders who prevented only the government (in most cases) from infringing upon free speech.

      If we were to kidnap a number of framers from the past, bring them to the modern day and explain the situation and pose the Q: "Should the right to infringe upon speech you disagree with also apply to private entities like these?"

      I'm not arguing either direction, simply pointing out the difference in time.

      I think you alt-right types

      Funny how you have to resort to labeling other people (correctly or incorrectly) to try to justify your point.

    26. Re:basically doing the same as china? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      If your friends are all on that platform, you can't say no.

      Why yes, yes I can say "no." Generally I don't have a compelling interest to, but I mean for fuck's sake. This is why you shouldn't get your fucking news from Facebook. This is also why you shouldn't hold any conversation you don't want to be publicly associated with your name and face on Facebook.

      There are other services like Discord. One of my friends actually had to move off Facebook because she got on the wrong side of the SJWs and they harassed her off by reporting every image she posted until her account was being suspended every week. (And no, Facebook does not check the actual picture that was reported before banning accounts.)

      There are still tons of IRC servers all over the place. I even run one!

      Facebook can say "let them eat cake" all they fucking want. It'd be a shame if nobody used their platform any more for them, but what do I fucking care?

      GOOD GOD PEOPLE! WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU! WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU GETTING YOUR FUCKING NEWS ON FACEBOOK, AND WHY THE FUCK IS FACEBOOK THE ONLY WAY YOU CAN CONTACT YOUR FRIENDS?!

      WHAT THE FUCK KIND OF MILLENNIAL SNOWFLAKE (i scream this as a millennial myself) ARE YOU THAT LEAVING FACEBOOK IS COMPORABLE TO EARNING CITIZENSHIP IN ANOTHER COUNTRY?!?!?!

      Argh!!1eleven1!1!

    27. Re: basically doing the same as china? by dnaumov · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Therein lies the biggest problem with current US free speech legislation. When a bunch of private entities like Google and Facebook hold a near-monopoly on the flow of information, who gives two shits about whether the goverment can censor you? It's the near-monopoly private entities I am most concerned about.

    28. Re:basically doing the same as china? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      At what point are there no websites that will publish an ideology and the group-think becomes as thick as the Great Firewall?

      I do not see how a telco, which enables people to exercise rights, is different than a platform that sites on top of telcos that enables people to exercise rights. They both enable the rights of individuals and they should have a civic responsibility of that fact.

      These services and websites would not exist without public financing and oversight of the infrastructure they operate on. These companies work with government for various activities and are under no obligation to protect the rights of individuals because we have forfeited their civic responsibility.

      Can the government requests your information without a warrant from these companies? They have no civic responsibility, no warrant needed because the company just gave it to the government. They are being responsible citizens by helping the government in an investigation and they are under no obligation to protect the rights of their users. It isn't parallel construction if Facebook willingly hands over the data. It wasn't illegal after all because Facebook has no civic responsibility.

      Can the government request your access denied for political reasons without due process of law? They have no civic responsibility, no due process is required because the company can just say "sure we can do that" without any legal course of action for the citizens.

    29. Re:basically doing the same as china? by torkus · · Score: 1

      Of course not.

      Only FAKE news will be blocked. They'll have a certified service which will work non-stop to ensure no news which isn't REAL gets to your facebook feed.

      C'mon man! They're trying to do a Good Thing here! Think of the children!!!

      --
      You can get rich if you own a politician, but you have to be rich to buy one in the first place.
    30. Re: basically doing the same as china? by the_Bionic_lemming · · Score: 1

      Wish I had mod points. Cause I was going to point that out too.

      --
      _ _ _ Go for the eyes Boo! GO FOR THE EYES!
    31. Re:basically doing the same as china? by torkus · · Score: 1

      Agreed. ...

      But...

      Social media has consolidated a lot of communications - which has the major benefit of allowing unprecedented one-to-many (millions) communication but also the major negative of basing all that communication on one of a ~dozen major platforms. And any of them could easily censor/promote as they wish for whatever political agenda they like (as several of them have been found doing).

      Not that this is especially new - it's not majorly different from the half dozen major news stations reporting the stories they want the way they want to...or newspapers doing the same.

      --
      You can get rich if you own a politician, but you have to be rich to buy one in the first place.
    32. Re:basically doing the same as china? by budgenator · · Score: 0

      Not to mention that both snopes.com and politifact.com have suffered considerable blows to their reputations in this election cycle, most of the "Facts" they disprove are mostly strawmen anyway.

      --
      Apocalypse Cancelled, Sorry, No Ticket Refunds
    33. Re:basically doing the same as china? by MightyMartian · · Score: 2

      This like complaining "the newspapers won't publish my letters to the editor", and demanding the government force the newspapers to publish your letter. It's an absurd demand. Start your own newspaper if you think your unpopular view needs an airing. The liberty to say what you want does not infer the limitation on someone else's liberty so that they have to publish or listen to what you have to say. If your views are so beyond the norm that the only way you can get anyone to listen is by demanding the state force them to, then I think you already know what your views are worth.

      FAcebook is a private company. The First Amendment does not apply to them. They are, in fact, allowed by that very same First Amendment, to disseminate or not disseminate information as they please. You're guaranteed your right to stand on a soapbox by the First Amendment, you're not guaranteed the right to stand on someone else's soapbox.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    34. Re:basically doing the same as china? by Hylandr · · Score: 1

      Can't tell if Genius, trolling, or serious.

      Going with genius trolling.

      -.-

      --
      ~ People that think they are better than anyone else for any reason are the cause of all the strife in the world.
    35. Re:basically doing the same as china? by mlts · · Score: 1

      On the other hand, FB can be important for communicating in daily life because it is used by so many, and one is expected to use it:

      There are services which use FB for authentication. An example is Spotify (although they don't require it these days.)
      I've had more than one prospective employer require a FB account, and stating "I have no FB ID" was an interview breaker.
      Many people plan events through FB.
      Many special interest groups have abandoned the Web and moved to FB.

      Yes, it is a private service... but it is used by everyone and not being a part of it is like not having a phone or E-mail.

    36. Re:basically doing the same as china? by MightyMartian · · Score: 1

      What's funnier is how constitutional purists are all about constitutional purism... until they're not.

      At any rate, the cake baking thing has been blown out of proportion, and for the record I don't think anyone should be forced to put a message on a cake if it violates their personal conscience.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    37. Re:basically doing the same as china? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No. There is a difference when you say something like a newspaper and enable someone else to say something like a phone line. Protecting freedom of speech means protecting the offensive speech that is out there.

      A baker is a private company but they protect the rights of gays by being impartial. Gays can go do a different baker but we have decided that public accommodations should be impartial for the public interest. Facebook has a greater impact on our society than a baker yet has less civic responsibility because the 1st amendment isn't as important as the 14th for some reason.

      When you enable a right you should be responsible and protect that right.

    38. Re: basically doing the same as china? by kqs · · Score: 2, Insightful

      So what you're saying is that we need fact checkers who are not biased towards facts?

    39. Re:basically doing the same as china? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, you're right. Gay people are born abnormal and they're a protected class. Conservatives are also born abnormal and should be a protected class. Wait... there might be something missing in my analysis.

    40. Re:basically doing the same as china? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Just with different rules

      Rules are very simple.

      I, Big Media, pay you, Big Internet, to flag stories from my competitors in small/indy media as "fake news". You happily oblige, and now your massive audience is automatically redirected via algorithms to my content, and most importantly ads. In effect, Facebook, etc in addition to hosting ads, is now selling wholesaling user eyeballs.

      The fact that I, Big Media, may also be pushing agenda about PedoPizzas or Russian super-hackers on behalf of Big Business or Big Government is entirely secondary the the basic economics underlying this "partnership".

      The mainstream media has had a terrible year. The dialed propaganda up to eleven and went full on hysterical in an effort to get Hillary Clinton elected, and regardless of your opinion on that candidacy, most of us at least recognize that the MSM should probably not have gone to such lengths as sacrificing its own reputation and credibility for Clinton, or Trump, or indeed anything. That's because most of us, on an abstract level, value the concept of an independent Fourth Estate, speaking truth to power and hopefully the rest of us as well. So we're naturally not too pleased to see traditional public institutions very publicly melting down into wide-eyed tin-foil wearers at the first mention of Russian mind controller, or that disgusting frog, or whatever other absurdest nonsense they've focused on today instead of, oh, public policy, or the deficit, or the economy, or well anything that we used to affectionately refer to as news.

      So we turn away. We stop watching. We go somewhere else.

      And they Panic.

      I thought I had seen it all from the Media this year, really. I genuinely felt that after the election, they'd finally learn a lesson, dial it back, and get back to reporting. Or move in that direction. I couldn't have been more wrong. "Fake news". CNN and the NYT want to talk about "Fake News" now? Is this another Russian plot? Or a Trump fascist takeover? A gambit to get Hillary into the White House? No dear reader, no. This is simply far more base, and simple economics.

      Before their (paying) audience implodes -- and it is imploding; the NYT didn't send a mass non-mea-culpa mea-cupla to its entire subscribership without seeing those numbers plummet into the red -- before the readers and viewers migrate on mass to RT, or Info-wars, or (god help us) PBS, Something Must Be Done. A clean up? Better reporting? More, how to put it dignity into the profession? No, too much effort. Just schmooze and/or bribe Google, Facebook, Amazon et al to Lock, Cauterize, Stabilize by any technological means necessary. And all with the blessing of a nervous government and its ever growing, ever more expensive public-private state surveillance partnerships.

      This could be worrying of course. But based on past results, future performance is less likely to resemble Orwell' 1984 as it is Gilliam's Brazil, and of course bankruptcy and government bailout long before that. And there will be a Bailout, mark my words on that. Incompetent as they perform, scorned as they are, laughable as they have become, no modern Government yet dares to step into the Undiscovered Country of a Media-less public landscape. So they will bailout, they will refinance, they will shovel yet more millions from the public Exchequer into the pension funds and golden parachutes of their latest Palace Courtier, down on his luck. I mean it's either that, either that or..... use the Rulebook!.

    41. Re:basically doing the same as china? by Ryanrule · · Score: 1

      private company asshat.

    42. Re:basically doing the same as china? by MightyMartian · · Score: 4, Insightful

      There is no difference. Facebook is a soapbox owner, and as a soapbox owner, it has the right to determine who gets to stand on the soapbox. Your right, as it were, is to use some other soapbox. The First Amendment protects Facebook as much as it protects you.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    43. Re:basically doing the same as china? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Seems more like typical banal projection of the poster's own reductive viewpoint onto people they disagree with.

      Maybe that passes for genius where you come from, but anyone who's been on the net for a couple of years has seen the same kind of empty commentary from people with too high an opinion of themselves countless times before.

    44. Re:basically doing the same as china? by PopeRatzo · · Score: 2

      Companies like Facebook today have a degree of power over communication never imagined by the founders who prevented only the government (in most cases) from infringing upon free speech.

      The founders also never imagined cheap semi-automatic rifles or .50 caliber sniper rifles being in the hands of civilians.

      But I agree with you that the Constitution needs to be a living document that takes into consideration changing times.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    45. Re:basically doing the same as china? by DogDude · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Not to mention that both snopes.com and politifact.com have suffered considerable blows to their reputations in this election cycle,

      Only among idiots.

      --
      I don't respond to AC's.
    46. Re:basically doing the same as china? by DaHat · · Score: 2

      The founders also never imagined cheap semi-automatic rifles or .50 caliber sniper rifles being in the hands of civilians.

      Given the writing of the time and purpose of the second amendment... I'm pretty sure they'd be ok with them in civilian hands.

      But I agree with you that the Constitution needs to be a living document that takes into consideration changing times.

      Except I didn't say that.

    47. Re:basically doing the same as china? by Rei · · Score: 5, Informative

      Did you even read the article? They're not blocking anything. They're making a "disputed" icon that appears next to the story, and a confirmation popup if you want to share it. You can still post and see whatever nonsense you want. Moon landing fake? Earth flat? Pearl Harbor false flag? Share your heart out.

      --
      Sometimes I doubt your commitment to Sparkle Motion.
    48. Re:basically doing the same as china? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just like a phone line, a public forum is a soap box that must be impartial for citizens in the modern day. Facebook is a public forum and should operate in the public interest with impartiality.

      If we do not protect the rights we value then there is no point in having them when an entity is big enough to take them away without due process of law.

    49. Re: basically doing the same as china? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The real point is not shielding them legally for liability from their actions. That should be reserved only for entities that do not take any action as to content.

      Given the childish behavior of the losing side here, and we all know it was Trump's election that started this, the next thing that's going to happen is they'll be swamped with false fake news reports driven solely by someone's perception of whether a story helps or hurts the safe space crowd and the candidates they support.

    50. Re:basically doing the same as china? by epyT-R · · Score: 1

      That doesn't mean they should be immune to criticism for placing their own spin on things, calling it 'fake news'. Don't like it? Well, there's nothing wrong with making sure your voice is heard! Demagoguery in any form should be criticized. How is this such a bad thing? There's always the NYT and MSNBC!

    51. Re:basically doing the same as china? by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      Facebook's soapbox is yuuuuge.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    52. Re:basically doing the same as china? by epyT-R · · Score: 2

      What's funnier is how the left is all about liberalism until they're not. Suddenly it's only ok to say what they want you to say and have the opinions they want you to have. Anything else is a crime against humanity.

      Really? So, if the cake baker doesn't want to write "Happy wedding day, John and Jake" because he's anti gay marriage, that's a-ok with you? Somehow I doubt it.

    53. Re:basically doing the same as china? by lgw · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Fake news lie "hands up, don't shoot" that got people killed?

      Fake news like the Duke lacrosse team rape story? (Or Rolling Stone beclowning themselves, if you prefer.)

      Fake news like Rathergate?

      --
      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
    54. Re: basically doing the same as china? by ScentCone · · Score: 2, Insightful

      So what you're saying is that we need fact checkers who are not biased towards facts?

      No, just fact checkers that don't slant their decisions about what, when, and how to fact check in ways that support their operators' own agenda. Or, you can use your own critical thinking skills, check multiple adversarial sources, and be done with it.

      --
      Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
    55. Re:basically doing the same as china? by DavidMZ · · Score: 1

      No, China censors reports of actual events if they are not compatible with the Party line. Facebook proposes to flag out unverified stories that try to pass as news.

      You may argue that it is a violation of one's right to Free Speech, and that may be true but from a moral standpoint it is just plain wrong to put true stories and fake news on the same level.

      If you like comparison with "communist" countries, I don't know if you had a look at Breitbart recently. It is starting to look like what Pravda was under Brezhnev: a propaganda tool for the power in place (or soon in place, since Trump is not president yet)./p?

    56. Re:basically doing the same as china? by DaHat · · Score: 1

      What's funnier is how constitutional purists are all about constitutional purism... until they're not.

      Once again with the name labeling without facts... it's as if you are trying to diminish whoever you are talking to with name calling, rather than facts.

      At any rate, the cake baking thing has been blown out of proportion,

      The cake bakers would probably disagree... as would the couples they refused service to... and the government agents which fined or threatened them.

      and for the record I don't think anyone should be forced to put a message on a cake if it violates their personal conscience.

      How nice of you, to defend the cake bakers after so many were sued into non-existence.

    57. Re:basically doing the same as china? by lgw · · Score: 1

      I've had more than one prospective employer require a FB account, and stating "I have no FB ID" was an interview breaker.

      What field? What companies? Name and shame. Unless it was an interview with with Facebook, I'm skeptical without details.

      --
      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
    58. Re:basically doing the same as china? by MightyMartian · · Score: 1

      Facebook isn't a phone line, it's one end of a phone line. If you don't like its rules, found your own social networking site.

      Of course, at that point, you no longer have the ability to distribute widely, but really, you have the right to speak your mind, you don't have the right to force large numbers of other people to listen.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    59. Re:basically doing the same as china? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh course torkus didn't RTFA, he's too busy generating FAKE news of his own.

    60. Re:basically doing the same as china? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And likewise, no one should be forced to employ said cake baker if they refuse to do work for paying clients.

    61. Re:basically doing the same as china? by NotInHere · · Score: 1

      Being a private company helped the bakery that was forced to close because it didn't want to make a lesbian wedding cake really much. And unlike with facebooks, you can actually go to a different bakery you know, there is no network effect.

    62. Re:basically doing the same as china? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's the only way I get invited to any parties.

    63. Re:basically doing the same as china? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not sure what cake makers have to do with Facebook, and I do hear this "cake" reference all the time.

      I'm aware that there have been several incidences where a cake maker was called racist or some such because they refused to make cakes. People in the right wing tend to ask for boycotts of companies that don't do what they think is right (see: Target bathroom policy). Left wingers calling a place bad for whatever reason (racism included, for making or for refusing to make) sounds like fair game.

      The last one I could find was Walmart regarding a BLM matter. Walmart apologized for the employee's actions as they saw nothing wrong with it. The Left and / or Right feels free to continue patronizing or otherwise. People might try to force them to do it, but they don't have to. The laws governing racism and whatnot are generally revolving around actually being racist: for example, a black person wanting to but a non-descript green cake and a chinese person wanting to buy the exact same green cake but the chinese person is refused for no other reason than being chinese.

    64. Re: basically doing the same as china? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Jokes on you. I already don't facebook.

    65. Re: basically doing the same as china? by skids · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I'm sure they'd be amenable to mixing in conservatiive-leaning fact-checking operations as well. Know of any?

    66. Re:basically doing the same as china? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The standard issue black powder rifle used back in colonial times was significantly more powerful than the modern .50 cal sniper rifles. Not as accurate, but good lord, those things pack a wallop. And most civilians had them. Just saying.

    67. Re: basically doing the same as china? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    68. Re: basically doing the same as china? by MightyMartian · · Score: 1

      There isn't "free speech legislation", there's the First Amendment, which protects Google and FAcebook's right to publish or not publish as they see fit, as much as it protects anyone else's right to free expression.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    69. Re: basically doing the same as china? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think the way people use the phrase "living document" is sometimes employed as a means to justify reinterpretation of ideas into whatever fits their ideology. It already is "living" in that it can have amendments. If we want to change it, we should go through the appropriate process.

    70. Re:basically doing the same as china? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Really? What articles were responsible for the blows to their reputation?

      This is the first I've heard of this.

      Captcha: redneck

    71. Re: basically doing the same as china? by CaptainDork · · Score: 1

      Or, you can use your own critical thinking skills, check multiple adversarial sources, and be done with it.

      This obviously failed, right? That's why we're having a conversation about "fake news," right?

      It's what Facebook members have asked for, right?

      Facebook understands its business model better than you do.

      --
      It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
    72. Re:basically doing the same as china? by CaptainDork · · Score: 1

      I agree and would extend the thought process to include that Facebook members sign up via Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.

      The only "right" any members have is to leave.

      --
      It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
    73. Re: basically doing the same as china? by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 1

      Yeah, it is called "reality", which has a bias against hyperbole and grandstanding. On the other hand, this account might be a shill for the RUSSIANS!!!!!

      --
      Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
    74. Re:basically doing the same as china? by Ryanrule · · Score: 1

      ad companies are facebooks customers.

    75. Re: basically doing the same as china? by Bodhammer · · Score: 2
      --
      "I say we take off, nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure."
    76. Re:basically doing the same as china? by CaptainDork · · Score: 1

      If your friends are all on that platform, you can't say no.

      Why yes, yes I can say "no." Generally I don't have a compelling interest to, but I mean for fuck's sake. This is why you shouldn't get your fucking news from Facebook. This is also why you shouldn't hold any conversation you don't want to be publicly associated with your name and face on Facebook.

      There are other services like Discord. One of my friends actually had to move off Facebook because she got on the wrong side of the SJWs and they harassed her off by reporting every image she posted until her account was being suspended every week. (And no, Facebook does not check the actual picture that was reported before banning accounts.)

      There are still tons of IRC servers all over the place. I even run one!

      Facebook can say "let them eat cake" all they fucking want. It'd be a shame if nobody used their platform any more for them, but what do I fucking care?

      GOOD GOD PEOPLE! WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU! WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU GETTING YOUR FUCKING NEWS ON FACEBOOK, AND WHY THE FUCK IS FACEBOOK THE ONLY WAY YOU CAN CONTACT YOUR FRIENDS?!

      WHAT THE FUCK KIND OF MILLENNIAL SNOWFLAKE (i scream this as a millennial myself) ARE YOU THAT LEAVING FACEBOOK IS COMPORABLE TO EARNING CITIZENSHIP IN ANOTHER COUNTRY?!?!?!

      Argh!!1eleven1!1!

      THE FUCKING ALL CAPS ARE SO COMPELLING, I CAN'T CONTROL MY FUCKING BLADDER AND I'M PEEING DOWN BOTH LEGS AND STUFF.

      --
      It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
    77. Re:basically doing the same as china? by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 1

      The founders never imagined the Internet Either, doesn't mean freedoms die with new technology. OR are you suggesting the government has a duty to restrict people from speaking their minds on the internet, because of how much more dangerous it is?

      Perhaps we should require people posting on the Internet a ten day cooling off period between posts, and have government run a background check on everyone. For the children's sake of course.

      --
      Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
    78. Re:basically doing the same as china? by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 1

      No, not that fake news. The other fake news.

      "IT was an internet video"
      "Police Acted Stupidly"
      "It was the Russians"

      --
      Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
    79. Re:basically doing the same as china? by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 2

      I wonder if "It was the RUSSIANS" will be considered "Disputed"

      --
      Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
    80. Re:basically doing the same as china? by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 2

      And the Left has the MSM for their false news service.

      --
      Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
    81. Re:basically doing the same as china? by CaptainDork · · Score: 1

      You do grok that people who sign up for Facebook are fully aware of all that shit as stated right there in the signup process?

      o Privacy
      o Cookies
      o Ad Choices
      o Terms

      As to why people use Facebook, it's none of your fucking business.

      --
      It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
    82. Re:basically doing the same as china? by PopeRatzo · · Score: 2

      The founders never imagined the Internet Either, doesn't mean freedoms die with new technology. OR are you suggesting the government has a duty to restrict people from speaking their minds on the internet, because of how much more dangerous it is?

      But the founders made it very clear that the unalienable rights were protected from violation by the government. Facebook is not the government, can not be construed to be the government and their business is their property.

      You can post whatever you want on the Internet. You can go to Gab, you can go to Breitbart, you can go to Stormfront or 4chan or voat or any of the other outlets where your opinions will be heard and respected.

      You have no right to post on Facebook.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    83. Re:basically doing the same as china? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No news will be censored at all, we're talking about a notification, similar to printing "OPINION" on an editorial that expresses opinion rather than facts.

    84. Re:basically doing the same as china? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And just like that, you have no rights online. Facebook and friends become the surveillance arm of the government without warrant or due process. Buried under technological obfuscation any dissenting opinions can be quietly lost from searches, look-ups, black-lists extended, and screening algorithms improved by this new arm of the government.

      They are a private company after all and they can give the government all of your data if they so want and do so in secret in exchange for protectionism.

      But collusion has never happened.

    85. Re:basically doing the same as china? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually, simple automatic weapons existed before 1789, and the Framers clearly intended the 2nd Amendment to cover artillery and full-scale warships as well as small arms. Remember, the American Revolutionary War kicked off in no small part due to an attempt by the British to confiscate a source of military arms.

      And the Constitution is already a living document - if you want to change it, just pass an Amendment,

    86. Re: basically doing the same as china? by danlip · · Score: 1, Informative

      Facts have a liberal bias.

    87. Re:basically doing the same as china? by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1

      the Framers clearly intended the 2nd Amendment to cover artillery and full-scale warships as well as small arms.

      It's funny that Supreme Courts of all political stripes didn't see it that way for over 200 years of our history, but I'm sure you know best.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    88. Re:basically doing the same as china? by aristotheron · · Score: 0

      "Facebook is a private organization, and has the right to remove any content they want to"
      A legal right but not a moral right. That will work against them eventually.

      "Don't like it, go use some other social networking platform."
      Facebook is not some genius invention. It is the people who use it that make it; the product itself contributes nothing but space. It's an interface to a public forum. Why should it be censored?

      I guess your argument boils down to "THAT'S JUST THE WAY IT IS, IT DOESN'T MATTER WHY, JUST DEAL WITH IT"

      You are a cancer here. Your moronic blabbering is always modded up wherever you comment. This is evidence of the complete corruption of the moderation here which is directly controlled by the editors. It's too bad the users of this site continue to be unaware that this site is a propaganda device from top to bottom.

    89. Re:basically doing the same as china? by MightyMartian · · Score: 1

      Your pharmacist or your employer can be required to give the government your data if a court order shows up at their door. Facebook is hardly unique.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    90. Re:basically doing the same as china? by MightyMartian · · Score: 1

      And how many cake bakers were sued into non-existence exactly?

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    91. Re:basically doing the same as china? by GNious · · Score: 1

      Then move, and get new friends - simples

      Thankfully, IRC doesn't have these kinds of problems.....

    92. Re: basically doing the same as china? by Cytotoxic · · Score: 1, Insightful

      No, it is not remotely why any of this is happening.

      We are having a conversation about "fake news" because a small cadre of politicos were emotionally invested in their team winning. And they cannot accept that they lost. So they are insisting that it had to be some sort of dirty trick. Like "Fake News!"

      But what made them think of "fake news" as a thing to be fought? It didn't exist a couple of months ago, and suddenly it is the greatest threat to democracy, ever. Perhaps there is a bit of projection operating here?

      So... Glenn Greenwald ( the reporter who brought you Edward Snowden) has a nice piece about how team Clinton manufactured fake news to discredit Wikileaks.

      So the actual story that we have where fake news was used to impact the election is about a Clinton disinformation campaign, willingly assisted by MSNBC. But somehow this means that we need to suppress stories from conservative websites like Breitbart.

      For those of you who are lacking a context for threats to free speech, this sort of thing has been the Democrat's dream for at least 40 years. They keep trying to bring back the "fairness doctrine" so they can get people like Rush Limbaugh off the air - or at least force stations to put on their guy for the same number of hours.

      So now they have a new angle. But the result is always the same. "We need to make sure that our political enemies are not allowed to speak to 'the people', because they are dangerous and evil"

      All of you who are cheerleading this sort of effort should be ashamed of yourselves. There is nobody on Slashdot who is so stupid and so devoid of knowledge of the importance of free speech that they don't know better than this. This used to be a place where suggesting a proprietary protocol for network traffic was considered a flagrant violation of our freedoms. And now we have people openly advocating for the suppression of online speech that they disagree with. On Slashdot.

      Good lord, people..... this isn't The Daily Kos or The Daily Beast. This is Slashdot. "Information wants to be free" has been our mantra forever. Now because the other team elected a guy you can't stomach, you want to toss out everything you believe in? Just in the name of political power?

      Go find your 1997 self and ask him what he thinks about your online censorship scheme. I really, really doubt he'd be all in on the plan just because you hang a "not the government" fig leaf on it.

    93. Re:basically doing the same as china? by aristotheron · · Score: 0

      But why do you assume that "fact checking" has any integrity? Who gets to decide what is fact and what is not and what burden of proof is on them?
      Why is the traditional system of people deciding for themselves what is true and what is not suddenly obsolete?

      "Nice trolling" indeed.

    94. Re: basically doing the same as china? by ADRA · · Score: 1

      Well, if you can't attack the topic 'fake news' then attack the people involved in the discussion. That's the way I win debates!

      --
      Bye!
    95. Re:basically doing the same as china? by ADRA · · Score: 1

      As with all journalism, or at any time one person communicates with another. The point at hand is that Facebook has decided to make itself a news source. Beyond that, they decided to control the flow of news information that you see. That's a fact. So what's your comment really asking:

      Can there be bias (no matter how small) in a news outlets representation of news? Absolutely. There is no objective person, and there is no objective system written by humans that is objective. You either stop reporting news (relying on users to spread real/BS to their friends themselves), or people accept that there will be a systemic subjective analysis of information.

      Or are you saying that fact checking as part of journalism is flawed and should just not be done? If you're debating the merits of fact checking as a critical aspect of news, then I don't think anyone will ever be able to talk to you about anything which isn't cultivated by your own original built-in prejudices (most of which we can't even identify).

      My favourite and sad story of inherent bias came from a podcast a while back. The study goes as such.
      As a man/woman ask someone the first thing that comes to mind when you say the word "academy".
      Statistically (at least in North America) if you're a woman, the responder would reply "Awards".
      If you are a male, they would say something like "school" or "education".

      This happens regardless of the responder's sex/gender and I couldn't believe just how broken it was, so I did the blind test myself with a few dozen people with my partner and I as the test speakers. It was amazing that something like 75% of the responders fell into their expected word responses. The findings are far from compelling for my small case, but the original study clearly had weight.

      --
      Bye!
    96. Re: basically doing the same as china? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Conservatives act as their own fact checking service so a providing a service for this would be a terrible business model. Only insecure snowflakes need their positions constantly reassured by snopes and the like.

    97. Re: basically doing the same as china? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      At least AOL wasn't trying to pass Snopes and Polifact off as being unbiased.

      I'm sorry, but keyword "Politifact" is not available. Perhaps you meant AOL Keyword Factchex?

    98. Re: basically doing the same as china? by Lije+Baley · · Score: 1

      You must have missed that real news story about the newly-rich kids in Macedonia.

      --
      Strange things are afoot at the Circle-K.
    99. Re:basically doing the same as china? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      You do grok that people who sign up for Facebook are fully aware of all that shit as stated right there in the signup process?

      LOL no, at least 90% of everyone using Facebook doesn't even read any of that, let alone being fully capable of understanding the legal terminology or the full implications of what they're agreeing to. They also don't understand what it is they're giving up. They just want to be one of the cool kids, just like everyone else. Then there's the 'if I'm not doing anything wrong, then I have nothing to fear' anti-privacy jackasses.

      As to why people use Facebook, it's none of your fucking business.

      I'll MAKE it my business, because the bad choices large groups of people make end up affecting everyone in the long run. I also would like to at least try to educate the dummies making bad choices, so maybe they stop making them.

      Why don't you admit that you're one of the dummies who drank the Facebook kool-aid, and now you see what a huge mistake you've made, that leaving it has social consequences you're too chicken to live with, and that even if you did leave, the damage is already done, they know way too much about you and your silly little life? So you defend your bad decision like a drug addict defends their addiction, because admitting you were wrong is too horrifying a prospect for you to bear?

      He fell for the 'social media' meme

      LOL. At least your Slashdot name is appropriate, dork.

    100. Re: basically doing the same as china? by marquisdepolis · · Score: 1

      Ad hominem.

      Not every fight to contain the damage coming from the fake news headlines, manufactured by farms of article writers from Macedonia as a cited example, is a partisan issue. Pointing out every fake news headline, or factually incorrect article, put out by EITHER campaign doesn't solve the problem that fake news was rampant.

      That said, I'm completely agreed on the issue of blocking, and we shouldn't become China. I, for one, don't think that fake news is something that can be identified or blocked very easily, if at all. But any attempt to curb it is welcome ..

      The fact that this did create and perpetuate memes about HC which were untrue surely cost her some votes. But even otherwise, surely you'd agree that we have a duty to be vigilant, and to ensure that we're not falling prey to large swathes of unverified, false, reports? Regardless of who's asking, or who else did something wrong, can't we all agree that news should be factual?

    101. Re:basically doing the same as china? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Don't like it, go use some other social networking platform.

      I don't use any "social networking platforms" at all, but for those who do, there is only one choice.

      What you are suggesting, is like telling a speaker in a huge stadium: "Don't like our PA system, then just speak to that one guy over there, he'll hear you."

      I have zero love for freaks that spout all kinds of weird shit on the internet, but you cannot pretend that there are real alternatives to the facebookernet.

    102. Re:basically doing the same as china? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Really sums it all up, great comment

    103. Re: basically doing the same as china? by emaname · · Score: 4, Informative

      At least AOL wasn't trying to pass Snopes and Polifact off as being unbiased.

      In my experience, they are not biased.

      I used Snopes primarily to defend Bush Jr during most of his two terms. And I've used it again to defend Obama during his.

      IMO that makes them unbiased sources. Take some time to look at them. They both have archives so you can look back at both Republicans and Democrats. More recently you'll find they defend Trump on several claims. If someone is spreading something about him that is inaccurate, I want to know. I strive to be as objective in my assessment as possible and both of these sources have served me well.

      The fact that you make the claim these sources are biased without making any reference to any examples puts your claim in doubt. Therefore, I have to assume that you are biased. I've come across others who have made the same claim and, for some reason, they are always Trump supporters. And in light of what I just pointed out above, that's puzzling. When Trump is being defended by each of those sources, why would a Trump supporter claim they are biased. If anything one might assume they are biased in favor of Trump.

      --
      An effective "democracy" creates the illusion the people have a say in their government.
    104. Re:basically doing the same as china? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      No, fake news where the reporter knowingly made up a story.

      Not "fake news" where the sources are incorrect or incomplete. That type of news tends to be corrected or retracted.

    105. Re:basically doing the same as china? by DaHat · · Score: 1

      Facebook is not the government, can not be construed to be the government and their business is their property.

      Given the fact that Facebook exists today is because it has been protected by government, be it through protection of IP laws, or implicit allowing of their overly friendly security guards on their campus... it's pretty clear that Facebook only exists because the government has been sufficiently good at preventing a storming of Zuckerberg co and seizing the means of production.

      Sound crazy? I've heard this same line of defense of government with regards to the right of government to regulate private business for ages... is this no longer valid?

    106. Re:basically doing the same as china? by DaHat · · Score: 1

      So only after receiving a letter of marque and reprisal was it possible for a civilian interest to heavily arm themselves or a ship of the sea?

      What's that? That right existed previously? And that said letter only allowed them to act in an aggressive manner? The right to arm oneself in defense of ones self was pre-existing? Darn! There again goes that narrative.

    107. Re: basically doing the same as china? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's just silly.

      Snopes started out pretty straight and mostly apolitical. That is no longer the case. Depending on who is writing, they vary from center-left to full-on team blue blinders. But they have mostly been the most reliable "fact check" site on the internet, in my experience.

      And Politifact exists entirely for the purpose of discrediting conservative media sites, particularly Fox News. That was the entire point of its creation. Claiming now that it isn't biased is kinda silly. They'll claim that a Republican's difference of opinion on matters of policy is "pants on fire" lying and call "caught in a bald faced lie" prevarication by a democrat "Mostly true". They are in no way reliable, particularly in their bottom line assessment. (sometimes they include relevant facts and then simply ignore them when making their conclusion)

      Add selection bias to this, and you get a completely unreliable system of fact checking. Which is entirely predictable. When you are dealing with people and politics (which is mostly opinion), fact-checking is always going to be impossibly biased.

    108. Re: basically doing the same as china? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So... Glenn Greenwald ( the reporter who brought you Edward Snowden) has a nice piece about how team Clinton manufactured fake news to discredit Wikileaks.

      Don't be a bloody cunt, okay?

      It was not the "Clinton team" who manufactured the fake news, it was Malcom Nance of MSNBC.

    109. Re:basically doing the same as china? by Hylandr · · Score: 1

      Your points are well suited to helping me make mine.

      Can there be bias (no matter how small) in a news outlets representation of news? Absolutely. There is no objective person, and there is no objective system written by humans that is objective

      My concern is this precise bias that you have described will be a determining factor in which some entity, government or otherwise, will delineate a news item as 'fact' or 'false'. Even Myth Busters got this wrong sometimes and that was with physical experimentation.

      --
      ~ People that think they are better than anyone else for any reason are the cause of all the strife in the world.
    110. Re:basically doing the same as china? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2

      You literally have no clue what you are talking about.

      Breitbart wouldn't exist if views opposed to the DNC were presented on the mainline news sources. The sensationalist headlines you pretend to know about but actually only got from a set of talking points from the DNC and proffered by a left-controlled media are not Breitbart. They have an audience because they say something when the old-school press holds their tongue for political reasons.

      The big 3 TV networks plus the major papers are the ones that are analogous to Pravda. They have been documented as willing partners of the DNC and the Clinton campaign in documents leaked from the DNC and from Clinton's campaign chief's emails.

      They actively worked together to slant the Republican and Democrat presidential primaries. They colluded on debates, public forums and interviews. They agree ahead of time about what topics they are going to cover...

      Have you ever wondered why ABC news will tell you that "This week, the President is going to focus on education!" and then give you a week of stories about education policy, all agreeing with whatever legislation the President is proposing? Why would a major news organization take its news direction from the White House? Is it because they are truly an independent fourth estate?

      In this past election, the Clinton team was so confident of their media support that they took to PBS to brag about their social media disinformation campaign. They openly bragged about having an army of twitter bots and willing followers who were going to tweet out how great Hillary was doing during the debate, targeting members of the media so that they would give the instant reaction the campaign desired. So everyone in the media knew they were doing it. And they initially reported it as if they didn't know the campaign strategy and pretended that the groundswell of Clinton support was overwhelming.

      But then it turned out that social media was actually on the other side, despite the millions of bots. So the media immediately pivoted and reported the Clinton team's outrage that Trump would have people using social media to push his campaign. They reported this with a straight face, without ever mentioning the millions that Clinton was spending on spamming social media.

      Look, you are obviously drinking the cool-aide. So I'll just remind you of this: The only speech that needs protecting is speech that you disagree with.

    111. Re: basically doing the same as china? by AmiMoJo · · Score: 2

      Don't mistake "no one wants to hear your bullshit" for monopoly. There are plenty of sites where you can post pretty much anything, like 8chan, Voat, Stormfront, Breitbart comments etc. It's not a monopoly because they aren't as popular as Google and Facebook, it's just that most people don't want to read to that kind stuff and don't want to be trolled.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    112. Re:basically doing the same as china? by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      The worrying thing is that Breitbart is Trump's favourite, most often cited and quoted site. The alt-right has is hear through Breitbart and its comment sections.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    113. Re:basically doing the same as china? by mjwx · · Score: 1

      Maybe we should just have the FCC classify them as a common carrier, and then not allow them to favor any particular communication over another that happens to be transmitted across their network.

      For what reason?

      No-one is forced to use Facebook to communicate nor is it an essential form of communication.

      I mean with the number of different social networks out there, you'd have a hard time classifying them as a monopoly.

      --
      Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
    114. Re:basically doing the same as china? by PopeRatzo · · Score: 2

      Given the fact that Facebook exists today is because it has been protected by government

      Every corporation exists today because it is protected by the government. Without the protection from personal liability granted by the government, they wouldn't exist.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    115. Re:basically doing the same as china? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If Facebook is no longer available for them to invent stories about Democrat pedophilia rings, then they're fucked.

      What happens when the "fake news" ends up being true? Unless the designated fact checkers can never be wrong, it's going to happen eventually.

    116. Re: basically doing the same as china? by skids · · Score: 1

      Know of any?

      ....crickets

    117. Re:basically doing the same as china? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The problem for the Alt-right and similar-minded groups outside the US is that services like Facebook and Twitter have very wide distribution, which means their fake news stories can go viral very quickly, for maximum effect. If they're stuck on 4chan, Breitbart and whatever other Internet sewers they usually frequent, about the only thing they're going to be doing is hate-mongering circle jerks. If Facebook is no longer available for them to invent stories about Democrat pedophilia rings, then they're fucked. Thus they protest this a great deal.

      The problem for the Alt-left and similar-minded groups outside the US is that services like Facebook and Twitter have very wide distribution, which means their fake news stories can go viral very quickly, for maximum effect. If they're stuck on campus, MSNBC and whatever other Internet sewers they usually frequent, about the only thing they're going to be doing is SJW circle jerks. If Facebook is no longer available for them to invent stories about Trump being reincarnated Hitler, then they're fucked. Thus they protest this a great deal.

    118. Re: basically doing the same as china? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You've provided no evidence for any of your claims.

    119. Re: basically doing the same as china? by BasilBrush · · Score: 1

      Snopes is biased to the truth. Dunno about Politifact.

    120. Re: basically doing the same as china? by surd1618 · · Score: 1

      There isn't "free speech legislation", there's the First Amendment

      I'm being super-pedantic, plus I agree with you, but I have to say that the First Amendment is technically in our current free speech legislation.

    121. Re: basically doing the same as china? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There are no "multiple adversarial sources" for pure fabrication. Just the original liar.

    122. Re: basically doing the same as china? by knorthern+knight · · Score: 1

      > I'm sure they'd be amenable to mixing in conservatiive-leaning
      > fact-checking operations as well. Know of any?

      Mark Dice? He has a Youtube channel with regular debunkings of the MSM. E.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

      --

      I'm not repeating myself
      I'm an X window user; I'm an ex-Windows user
    123. Re: basically doing the same as china? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Suck that capitalist dollar dong, shill boy.

    124. Re: basically doing the same as china? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How much are they paying you, boot licker?

    125. Re: basically doing the same as china? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Shills be shillin'.

    126. Re:basically doing the same as china? by Rakarra · · Score: 1

      Even hard-core Libertarians believe that protection of private property, in that thieves are punished, is a legitimate role of government. Anarchists are about the only people who don't.

    127. Re:basically doing the same as china? by Rakarra · · Score: 1

      Saying that you rely on Facebook does not make Facebook a public forum or anything other than a private organization providing a private service. There is no number of people who can sign up for it that changes that.

    128. Re: basically doing the same as china? by darkseid · · Score: 1

      Well, reality does have a well known liberal bias...

    129. Re:basically doing the same as china? by RockDoctor · · Score: 1

      Maybe we should just have the FCC classify them as a common carrier,

      It being over a year since I stopped using Facebook, I don't know what their current claim for users is. But they used to claim a billion users. In which case, the FCC could at most control their behaviour over a third of their users (less if not every one of the 0.3 billion US people has an account, or if FB has grown in the last year or so).

      --
      Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
    130. Re:basically doing the same as china? by brantondaveperson · · Score: 1

      The US government has a duty to allow for free speech. Private and public businesses don't.

      The line between these two entities has become increasingly blurred over the decades since it was drawn.

    131. Re:basically doing the same as china? by Coren22 · · Score: 1

      On top of what AC says, I would also like to point out that civilian firearms of the era were far better than what the military handed out. Most of the cannon in the revolutionary war were privately owned as well.

      I have no problem with reducing what civilians can own to what the military can own, after all it is fair to let them use the same rifled barrels that the civilians use.

      --
      APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
    132. Re:basically doing the same as china? by Coren22 · · Score: 1

      Um, the cake shops were sued out of existence for exercising their first amendment rights. They were given the choice of baking the cake that supported something they found morally objectionable, or going out of business. There were numerous examples, and it wasn't boycotts, but actually bringing the force of law against them.

      --
      APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
  2. Facebook committing corporate suicide by danbuter · · Score: 2, Interesting

    They are threatening to censor half of their customers. I don't think this will end well for them.

    1. Re:Facebook committing corporate suicide by Bartles · · Score: 1

      We'll just slap common carrier status on them, and then they won't have a say.

    2. Re:Facebook committing corporate suicide by DogDude · · Score: 1

      They'll make more money from reputable customers. I'm sure that Fortune 500 companies can afford to pay more than conspiracy web sites.

      --
      I don't respond to AC's.
    3. Re:Facebook committing corporate suicide by Attila+Dimedici · · Score: 4, Insightful

      There is nothing in this that says that they are getting rid of all fake news, just the fake news (and not so fake news) that Politifact and Snopes do not like.

      --
      The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted. James Madison
    4. Re:Facebook committing corporate suicide by bfpierce · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Warning labels aren't censorship.

      If you don't want a warning label don't create fake made up shit.

    5. Re:Facebook committing corporate suicide by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Made up shit? Like Brian "my helicopter took fire" Williams from NBC?

    6. Re:Facebook committing corporate suicide by bfpierce · · Score: 4, Funny

      Yes.

      Did you actually think I was a liberal and would be triggered by that?

    7. Re:Facebook committing corporate suicide by gmack · · Score: 1

      Considering I used Snopes to debunk several anti Trump posts(I pretty much annoyed both sides this election).. I don't see that as a problem.

    8. Re:Facebook committing corporate suicide by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He's just a baby troll. Go easy on him. Maybe let him think he won a little?

    9. Re:Facebook committing corporate suicide by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't see that as a problem.

      Which means the problem went right over your head.

    10. Re:Facebook committing corporate suicide by DogDude · · Score: 1

      just the fake news (and not so fake news) that Politifact and Snopes do not like.

      That's a good start. I'm not aware of any "not so fake news" that Politifact and Snopes "do not like".

      --
      I don't respond to AC's.
    11. Re:Facebook committing corporate suicide by MightyMartian · · Score: 1

      Who is this "we"?

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    12. Re: Facebook committing corporate suicide by Bartles · · Score: 1

      By we, I mean the FCC and all the people who think net neutrality is great.

    13. Re:Facebook committing corporate suicide by serviscope_minor · · Score: 1

      There is nothing in this that says that they are getting rid of all fake news, just the fake news (and not so fake news) that Politifact and Snopes do not like.

      Care to point to a demonstrably false story that Snopes marks as true? Or a demonstrably true story that Snopes marks as false?

      --
      SJW n. One who posts facts.
    14. Re:Facebook committing corporate suicide by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/sep/26/eight-examples-where-fact-checking-became-opinion-/

      Part of the insidious nature of these "fact checking" sites is the lie of their neutrality. It's got people like you defending them as if they are in any way unbiased.

    15. Re:Facebook committing corporate suicide by Ryanrule · · Score: 1

      the customers of facebook are ad companies. trump voters dont have any money. no one cares to advertise to them. they still have their bud light commercials.

    16. Re:Facebook committing corporate suicide by serviscope_minor · · Score: 1

      Or, in other words, you can't point to what I asked, you merely assert they are biased.

      --
      SJW n. One who posts facts.
    17. Re:Facebook committing corporate suicide by 0100010001010011 · · Score: 1

      Good. It's time for something else.

    18. Re:Facebook committing corporate suicide by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > Considering I used Snopes to debunk several anti Trump posts(I pretty much annoyed both sides this election)..

      Its just a variation on "I don't like that snopes proved I was a sucker so instead of improving myself, I'm going to dump on snopes." Seen it a thousand times. In fact, I've seen it so often that a couple of weeks ago I started collecting snopes debunks anti-conservative stories:

      http://www.snopes.com/donald-trump-says-the-earth-is-flat/
      http://www.snopes.com/trump-says-africans-are-poor-because-they-think-of-sex-instead-of-farming/
      http://www.snopes.com/national-park-service-denying-inauguration-protest-permits/
      http://www.snopes.com/democrats-file-treason-charges-against-trump/
      http://www.snopes.com/trump-social-security/
      http://www.snopes.com/paul-ryan-said-free-lunches-give-children-empty-souls/
      http://www.snopes.com/morton-county-sheriff-kyle-kirchmeiers-twitter-account/
      http://www.snopes.com/ben-carson-abortions-create-baby-ghosts-haunt-hospitals/
      http://www.snopes.com/harry-david-says-company-neutral-racism-neo-nazis/
      http://www.snopes.com/donald-trump-carrier-stock/
      http://www.snopes.com/2016/12/06/new-york-city-schools-head-disparages-rumors-trump-related-bullying-post-election/
      http://www.snopes.com/trump-cancels-obamas-muslim-ritual/
      http://www.snopes.com/sarah-palin-calls-boycott-mall-america-santa-always-white-bible/
      http://www.snopes.com/trump-bringing-back-draft/
      http://www.snopes.com/emboldened-election-texas-republicans-kill-medicaid-funding-children-disabilities/
      http://www.snopes.com/chris-christie-arrested-for-keying-trumps-limo/
      http://www.snopes.com/melania-trump-ivanka-trump-wearing-transparent-shirts/
      http://www.snopes.com/are-standing-rock-protesters-being-sprayed-with-chemicals-from-crop-duster-planes/
      http://www.snopes.com/christian-owned-airlines-change-wing-light-colors-to-celebrate-christmas/
      http://www.snopes.com/trump-to-ban-all-television-shows-that-promote-gay-activity/
      http://www.snopes.com/hillary-clinton-sponsored-a-bill-to-punish-flag-burning/
      http://www.snopes.com/2016/11/30/burned-bible-page-found-at-dollywood/
      http://www.snopes.com/millions-of-muslims-marched-against-the-islamic-state/
      http://www.snopes.com/trumps-flip-flop-on-flag-burning/
      http://www.snopes.com/trumps-latest-staff-pick-outed-dying-gay-brother/
      http://www.snopes.com/ivanka-trump-will-move-into-white-house-to-fill-melanias-vacancy/
      http://www.snopes.com/2016/11/28/rosie-odonnell-claims-barron-trump-has-autism/
      http://www.snopes.com/trump-picks-el-chapo-to-run-dea/
      http://www.snopes.com/three-wisconsin-counties-admit-they-padded-votes-for-trump/
      http://www.snopes.com/trump-donates-50k-to-charleston-shooter-family-to-move-him-to-safer-prison/
      http://www.snopes.com/trump-promises-to-pardon-dylann-roof/
      http://www.snopes.com/trump-tower-name-changed-to-dump-tower-in-google-maps/
      http://www.snopes.com/edward-snowden-said-russia-successfully-rigged-u-s-elections-in-favor-of-trump/
      http://www.snopes.com/ben-carson-thinks-the-earth-would-have-exploded-during-big-bang/
      http://www.snopes.com/donald-trump-themed-ornaments-made-in-china/
      http://www.politifact.com/georgia/statements/2013/mar/18/julian-bond/no-concrete-evidence-support-claim/
      http://www.snopes.com/trump-appoints-bill-cosby-as-secretary-for-womens-rights/
      http://www.snopes.com/ivanka-trump-said-if-donald-trump-wasnt-her-father-she-would-mace-him/
      http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/foxcanada.asp
      http://www.snopes.com/audit-the-vote/
      http://www.snopes.com/2016/11/22/will-it-cost-taxpayers-1-million-a-day-for-trumps-family-to-stay-in-new-york/
      http://www.snopes.com/trump-team-accidentally-reveals-extreme-immigration-plan/
      http://www.snopes.com/politics/palin/russia.asp
      http://www.snopes.com/hamilton-non-white-casting-call/
      http://www.snopes.com/texas-high-school-students-fake-trump-assassination/
      http://www.snopes.com/lady-gagas-arrested-for-twitter-attack-on-melania-trump/
      http://www.snopes.com

    19. Re:Facebook committing corporate suicide by unixisc · · Score: 2

      There is nothing in this that says that they are getting rid of all fake news, just the fake news (and not so fake news) that Politifact and Snopes do not like.

      Precisely. The reason that fake news has shot up is that the credibility of the MSM has gone down. Like the current obsession over whether it was Russia that handed over the election to Trump. Never mind that Russian agents would have had to physically have been in a lot of polling places in WI, MI and PA to do what was alleged, since few of those voting machines were directly online.

      Facebook can use what they like, but given that there are enough people who don't believe in the integrity of Politifact or Snopes, they will just be taking a major hit on their own credibility. The label 'Fake News' is conveniently used at people who are not part of any media organization but deliberately spread misinformation. But what about news organizations that deliberately spread misinformation - why would their garbage not be dubbed 'Fake News', when it's equally dishonest, and equally politically motivated?

    20. Re:Facebook committing corporate suicide by AmiMoJo · · Score: 3, Insightful

      This is the worst kind if post-truth bullshit. There is no "personal truth", just because you don't like the facts doesn't mean you can simply pick some that better suit you.

      Obviously no one is perfect, but Snopes and PolitiFact do a more than adequate job of basic fact checking. The kind of stuff that would have prevented some idiot going to a pizza restaurant with an automatic rifle. The kind of easily debunked bullshit that the far right lives for.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    21. Re:Facebook committing corporate suicide by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      http://www.snopes.com/hillary-clinton-freed-child-rapist-laughed-about-it/

      The claim is 100% true, they label it as mostly false and use the logical fallacy of moving the goalposts to do so.

      Hillary did in fact successfully defend the rapist, and she did laugh about it in an interview later, so it's 100% true.

    22. Re:Facebook committing corporate suicide by SecurityGuy · · Score: 1

      Not necessarily. Some of the people who have posted fake news that I've seen accepted that it was fake and retracted it when it was pointed out to them. Actually, most of the people I've done that to have.

      I think the key point is that people spreading fake news (stories claiming to be true that aren't, not opinion pieces) don't actually intend to be spreading stories that are really not true. They've just been duped into thinking they are true.

    23. Re:Facebook committing corporate suicide by lgw · · Score: 1

      PolitiFact, the Democratic propaganda site? Eesh.

      --
      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
    24. Re:Facebook committing corporate suicide by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They are threatening to censor half of their customers. I don't think this will end well for them.

      As you didn't even read the summary, I doubt your fake predictions based on this happening will end well for you.

    25. Re:Facebook committing corporate suicide by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >They are threatening to censor half of their customers. I don't think this will end well for them.

      I keep on hearing this over and over for various things.
      In this case, it assumes that all Reps want fake news about about the birther movement or whatever. Which is probably not the case for all 46%.

      OK, your guy won, but unfortunately it does not give your team total control over all corporations, as that would be communism.

    26. Re:Facebook committing corporate suicide by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wow, managed to contradict yourself within one post. Nearly one sentence. "No one cares to advertise to them. They still have their bud light commercials." Well clearly you're first statement is false if your second one is true. By what you said, clearly InBev (Owners of Bud Light) want to advertise to them.

    27. Re:Facebook committing corporate suicide by DogDude · · Score: 1

      What propaganda? Calling something "propaganda" with no basis for fact, is itself, the propaganda.

      --
      I don't respond to AC's.
    28. Re:Facebook committing corporate suicide by lgw · · Score: 1

      PolitiFact is honest - that's verified by PolitiFact! They have a seriously left-wing bias in their "fact-checking" - might as well be WaPo or NYT.

      --
      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
    29. Re:Facebook committing corporate suicide by Attila+Dimedici · · Score: 2

      What is interesting is that since the pizzagate incident occurred I have asked the conservatives I know their thoughts about it. None of them had even heard about this "conspiracy", yet most of the liberals I know were fully informed about it even before the gun man went to the pizzeria (which is when I first heard about it). It makes me wonder who is really the target audience of this "fake news."

      --
      The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted. James Madison
    30. Re:Facebook committing corporate suicide by DogDude · · Score: 1

      Again, complete and total bullshit. Saying something doesn't make it true.

      --
      I don't respond to AC's.
    31. Re:Facebook committing corporate suicide by lgw · · Score: 1

      You'll certainly never hear anything in your echo chamber to cause you to question PolitiFact's judgements. Hey, if that's where you're comfortable - best of luck in life.

      --
      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
    32. Re:Facebook committing corporate suicide by DogDude · · Score: 1

      Repeating a lie doesn't make it any more convincing. Facts would make it more convincing, but I'm guessing you're not interested in those. Do you repeat "Benghazi" over and over again while masturbating?

      --
      I don't respond to AC's.
    33. Re:Facebook committing corporate suicide by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Search is you friend. If you actually care about the truth of course you'll have to search for yourself, but PolitiFact is pretty clearly of the left labels facts through the lens of the dem party.
      "if like your plan you can keep it" was labeled half-true until of course after the elections when it was finally acknowledge as lie of the year.

    34. Re:Facebook committing corporate suicide by aristotheron · · Score: 0

      "Warning labels aren't censorship."
      uh....yes they are

      surely there is some ancient argument that could be brought up with movie/video game/music ratings?

      They ensure that certain people do not view certain things. That is censorship. Just because the group of certain people is ill-defined doesn't mean it counts for no one.
      It creates schism in the public forum. That is the ultimate goal of all censorship. Divide and conquer.

      "If you don't want a warning label don't create fake made up shit."
      Your automatic faith in the review process is totally irrational. It's too bad thoughtless comments like yours are modded up.

    35. Re:Facebook committing corporate suicide by ADRA · · Score: 1

      So you're saying half their customers are liars or that half their customers believe in lies, or that half their customers don't trust -anyone- to tell facts from lies. I'm really confused.

      --
      Bye!
    36. Re:Facebook committing corporate suicide by Magius_AR · · Score: 1

      It's subtle but true that Politifiact is left-slanted. The easiest way to spot it is by viewing the "Our ruling" conclusions they come to, often when a "partial truth" is reveal. For instance, you'll note in this False conclusion, they recognize "While some research suggests a small uptick in the number of part-time jobs as a result of the Affordable Care Act, Trumpâ(TM)s claim goes too far." and give it a false. But in this Half True decision about Obamacare, they recognize "However, to call it the Republican plan, as though a majority of Republicans endorsed it, goes too far. The House Republicans took a different path, and there was opposition from more hard-line members of the Republican coalition. It is telling that the Chafee bill never became a full blown bill and never came up for a vote.", yet it does not get a similar "False" (or even "Mostly False") ruling. I could find other examples, but I imagine you get the point. To be fair to them though, they're not extreme in their slant. They do a decent job of fact checking on both sides. But their subtle bias does show.

    37. Re:Facebook committing corporate suicide by sethstorm · · Score: 1

      No, more like more than half of their US user base.

      --
      Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
    38. Re: Facebook committing corporate suicide by afxgrin · · Score: 1

      So, no one in the government right now.

    39. Re:Facebook committing corporate suicide by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      When I see such complete ignorance as the notion Facebook should be "common carrier" when Facebook is not a carrier at all then it becomes plain that the right approach is not being discussed. If fake stories are flagged then the hugely ignorant will just look for flagged stories to get their ignorance fix. Can we not have an education system that weeds out these ignorophilic people? It's how we used to do it so it can indeed be done. When an ignoramus tries to enter society he can be labeled an ignoramus. The problem is the notion that every person must be consumed for years in our educational system combined with the current absence of the educational system's ability to distinguish the capable from the many people with no interest and curiosity. There is a societal cost of cramming unsuitable people through the system and the attraction to fake news by substantial numbers with political power is just one way we experiencing that cost.

  3. Slashdot is clamping down by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Looking at the Alexa ranking [alexa.com] of Slashdot over the past couple of months shows that readership has dropped precipitously. It started to slide around March, levelled out at a low pace throughout the summer, and took a nosedive right around the election.

    During those months, many long-term readers took the trouble to post messages complaining about the political nature of the posts, and many of those also said "that's it - I'm leaving!".

    It was clear during those months that many of the articles were partisan - mostly in favour of Clinton, but there were some that were pro Trump as well. The forum became nothing more than an anchor point for digs against Trump or Clinton.

    This article is another example of this: it's a forum for people to wail about how awful Trump will be, because they can see the future with perfect clarity.

    It's clear from context and evidence that people simply don't like this partisan bullshit, and are leaving the site in droves to avoid it. Whichever side you happen to be on, when you trash talk or support Trump you're alienating fully half the readership.

    I would *think* that the editors should have a fiducial responsibility to see slashdot succeed, and looking at the Alexa history I would *think* that whiplash would step in and enforce a leadership vision that better navigates the shoals of politics.

    I guess not.

    The NYT showed a 96% drop in quarterly profits [dailycaller.com] over the election season, very probably because of continuous partisan trash talking.

    That's a huge drop in the profitability of a company, and should be a cloister bell for media in general: people simply don't like all this partisan bickering.

    At the very least you're driving away half your readership.

    Slashdot should focus on the technical and avoid emotionalism for the time being, at least until the election soreness has had a chance to calm down.

    If Slashdot wants to succeed, that would seem to be the prudent move.

    1. Re:Slashdot is clamping down by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nice "source". Haven't you got some horseshit to pretend matters on The_Donald? The only traffic this site is losing is its sewage.

    2. Re:Slashdot is clamping down by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      people simply don't like this partisan bullshit

      Says you. I for one following a donkey and elephant waiting for the bullshit to erupt from all the laxatives i.e. ideological bubble farts.

    3. Re:Slashdot is clamping down by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hey, I just saw this comment on a different thread - this must be a Fake Comment!

    4. Re:Slashdot is clamping down by MightyMartian · · Score: 0

      That's for sure. I'm no longer losing karma when I write "AGW is a real verifiable thing". It does look like the 4chan crowd is leaving.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    5. Re:Slashdot is clamping down by neo00 · · Score: 1

      This article is another example of this: it's a forum for people to wail about how awful Trump will be, because they can see the future with perfect clarity.

      This article did NOT mention anything about Trump. This is at least the third time I've see this comment copy-pasted on /., and the claims have been refuted by other commentators. At this point, you don't have anything new and this is just pure trolling. Go back to r/T_D or 4chan or wherever troll-land you came from.

    6. Re:Slashdot is clamping down by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This article did NOT mention anything about Trump. This is at least the third time I've see this comment copy-pasted on /., and the claims have been refuted by other commentators. At this point, you don't have anything new and this is just pure trolling. Go back to r/T_D or 4chan or wherever troll-land you came from.

      The article is about fake news, the only reason we are talking about fake news is the election. Not sure why you can't make that connection. This is just another article about Fake News, which will inevitably lead to the Trumpification of posting. Stop posting articles about Fake News because its not a tech problem but a social one. Post more articles about tech and science achievements and progress.

    7. Re:Slashdot is clamping down by Bender+Unit+22 · · Score: 1

      Well, something has changed here. News t about politics seems to be the most popular.
      When I go here, it's usually to avoid topics regarding politics.

    8. Re:Slashdot is clamping down by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maybe they should be clamping down on FAKE COMMENTS like the copy-pasta 4chan tier posts like Anon's here, that have nothing to do with the article. Stay BTFO!

    9. Re:Slashdot is clamping down by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I have noticed this several times myself, the thing that puzzles me is that it offers no alternatives.

      It just seems to state that 'liberal news aught to become conservative news, or else it will go out of business' without any causal proof.

      But it still seems to get modded up.

  4. Snopes is One of Their "Fact Checkers" ?!? by RobotRunAmok · · Score: 1, Troll

    Ye gods, that's hysterical! Or absolutely terrifying, not sure which yet... We've gone completely down the rabbit hole..

    1. Re:Snopes is One of Their "Fact Checkers" ?!? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you're a white supremecist then be afraid. If you're a normal human, awesome.

    2. Re:Snopes is One of Their "Fact Checkers" ?!? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Should black supremacists be afraid too?

    3. Re:Snopes is One of Their "Fact Checkers" ?!? by MightyMartian · · Score: 1

      By "black supremacist" you mean an African-American who is concerned they are far more likely to be unarmed and yet still shot to death by a police officer than a white American. Yes, quite horrible that them there colored folk are gettin' all uppety.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    4. Re:Snopes is One of Their "Fact Checkers" ?!? by dpidcoe · · Score: 3, Insightful

      By "black supremacist" you mean an African-American who is concerned they are far more likely to be unarmed and yet still shot to death by a police officer than a white American.

      I'd give him the benefit of the doubt and say he means the actual black supremacists, and not whatever strawman you're thinking of. Or are you under the impression that only white people are capable of being racists?

    5. Re:Snopes is One of Their "Fact Checkers" ?!? by unixisc · · Score: 1

      Black Supremacist would be either members of NOI, or BLM. Those people!

    6. Re:Snopes is One of Their "Fact Checkers" ?!? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you're a white supremecist then be afraid. If you're a normal human, awesome.

      Why would white supremacists be afraid? Pretty sure most of their drivel has been banned from Facebook for quite some time. They have had policies against hate speech for a long time, and they are enforced. That pretty much only leaves "normal humans".

      There are two basic flavors of mainstream Fake News: The Washington Post and the Washington Times. One is Fake News and the other is not. The one you pick for each category is totally subjective.

    7. Re:Snopes is One of Their "Fact Checkers" ?!? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why are are they fare more likely to be unarmed, when they are far more likely to commit a crime with a gun? Sorry..doesn't add up, SJWannabe...

    8. Re:Snopes is One of Their "Fact Checkers" ?!? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Bad news friend: being [my tribe] supremacist is quite normal.

    9. Re:Snopes is One of Their "Fact Checkers" ?!? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      By "African-American", do you mean some Nth-generation-to-be-born-in-the-US black person (whose great grandparents were born well after slavery was abolished) who is as culturally "African" as some Nth-generation-to-be-born-in-the-US white person (whose great grandparents probably couldn't have afforded slaves if it hadn't already been abolished), yet enjoys the race card? Because I sure as shit don't hear people calling any fresh off the boat white people, let alone any Jim-Bobs and Cleetuses, "European-American". Nor does anyone refrain from insulting them, overtly, on a racial basis. But all the D'trefondray Jeffersons and Shpiqualondria Franklins sure do get to play their little "Africa" card and enjoy their protected status all day long (even when they're running amok like life is a party with no rules or expectation of manners).

      Furthermore, I frequently hear non-whites and surrendered-whites say "Europeans have no culture or history of their own". Like culture and history are some kind of exotic thing exclusive to Africans, middle-easterners and south-east Asians. Kinda funny though, because that "others" them. Isn't that what progressives are trying to avoid? I'd say, these days, white supremacy is absolutely necessary (particularly in Europe) to fight all the anti-white racism that is so trendy. At the very least, to fend off a potential genocide against white people over the sins of wealthy white people (and black warlords in Africa who weren't against selling the poor locals) in the past. Are you willing to admit racism against white people can and does happen - and it can happen anywhere regardless of the racial majority - and is happening? I doubt it. ALL lives matter. These days though, we live in bizarro world where saying such a thing is somehow evil, yet "KILL THE WHITE MAN" is good. Way to be subtle about that societal revenge, lefties. Did you know an eye for an eye leaves everyone blind?

      Also, maybe less black people would be killed if more stupid, angry and extremely petty black people swallowed their pride, got educated and stopped acting like n!ggers (ie. tribal savages). It would be stupid for police NOT to be more wary of them than others. At least until black people get it together as a race. Blacks comprise 13% of the US population but they are responsible for roughly half of all murders. STILL. AND they murder each other more than anyone murders them. N!gger kills n!gger, nobody cares cuz its wut dey gon do bruh. Cop kills n!gger, everybody flips out. Black cop kills n!gger and, ignoring that the cop is also black, everybody still flips out. Forget the police, black people are their own worst enemy, but you can't slap that on a protest sign at the libtard rallies or they'll have a cry and a few of the more actively psychotic ones will throw bottles at you and flip your car. All I can hope for, for the future, is that you liberal faggots don't go all Weather Underground on us again. You people are DANGEROUS. The participation badge era satiated you for a while but after getting that inch, you've begun demanding a mile. Brexit, Trump, and whatever is to follow are the world taking that inch BACK from you ungrateful fuckers.

      As a white person, do you know what I don't do around cops? Raise my voice, reach around for concealed shit or act all defiant and tough. Best of all, my parents didn't need to teach me that. I figured it out for myself. See I don't wanna be attacked or robbed or whatever, and I know that the consequences of breaking those laws are a pretty good deterrent. As such, I respect the rule of law and those who risk their lives to enforce it, and I understand that they always have to have their guard up because they don't know who they are dealing with whenever they stop someone. Thinking about it like that, it just makes sense not to make myself seem like a threat. What a silly concept for an unthinking n!gger... thinking. Why have so few of history's and today's great minds been black people? My

    10. Re:Snopes is One of Their "Fact Checkers" ?!? by mjwx · · Score: 1

      By "black supremacist" you mean an African-American who is concerned they are far more likely to be unarmed and yet still shot to death by a police officer than a white American.

      I'd give him the benefit of the doubt and say he means the actual black supremacists, and not whatever strawman you're thinking of. Or are you under the impression that only white people are capable of being racists?

      Actually you dont have enough data to make that assertion.

      Given that we have very few issues with the Black equivalent of the Klan in western countries and that right wing white supremacist groups are on the rise in almost all western nations, I'd say you have even less cause to make your strawman.

      --
      Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
  5. Purifying our media, in other words? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Practice what you preach.

  6. Who watches the watcher? by slapout · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Snopes is run by two liberals.

    --
    Coder's Stone: The programming language quick ref for iPad
    1. Re:Who watches the watcher? by deadwill69 · · Score: 3, Informative

      While it is acknowledge they do tend to have a liberal slant, this is not fully correct:

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

        FactCheck noted that Barbara Mikkelson was a Canadian citizen (and thus unable to vote in US elections) and David Mikkelson was an independent who was once registered as a Republican.

    2. Re:Who watches the watcher? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      boo hoo. reality has a liberal bias. go cry to your daddy.

    3. Re:Who watches the watcher? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Neither one of those means they're not liberal.

    4. Re:Who watches the watcher? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      How does your, so-called, fact checking make what he said incorrect?

      Being registered a Republican doesn't make one automatically conservative. He may have registered Republican for a local election to block a candidate he felt was too conservative. Likewise there were plenty of "blue dog" Democrats that were considered too conservative by others in the Democrat party that got expunged.

      Barbara Mikkelson's eligibility to vote in the US is irrelevant to her political leanings as well.

      More to the point - this is ultimately the problem with "Fact checking". Check slashdot's recent post on the recent unemployment numbers and whether or not those numbers were good or bad and actual acts were thrown out aplenty from both sides to support or counter arguments. In the end it came out to "which facts" were important to those making the argument as to how "factual" the ultimate statement was.

      And so it will be with this. "Fact checking" doesn't resolve bias... it increases it. Because if they were truly facts.. .they wouldn't need checking.

    5. Re:Who watches the watcher? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      "the facts of life are conservative." - Margaret Thatcher

      I'm sure this aphorism swayed your thinking exactly as much as your aphorism swayed mine.

    6. Re:Who watches the watcher? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      which of course is a lie

    7. Re:Who watches the watcher? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Because you're hearing what you want to hear.
      Trump said "she's lying," Clinton said "other people will show you that he's lying."
      Trump wanted to be confrontational, Clinton did not but still wanted him to get called out.

    8. Re:Who watches the watcher? by DogDude · · Score: 1

      Most good things in the world are run by liberals. What's your point?

      --
      I don't respond to AC's.
    9. Re:Who watches the watcher? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      This is a huge problem. "Fact Checkers" often can pick apart a statement in many ways to get the "correct" determination.

      When "Fact Checking":
      They can attack something that is generically truthful by using "literal" definitions of words. "Like what, with a cloth?"

      Out of a large statement they can ignore the untrue parts and "fact check" a correct part and put a "True" stamp on the entire statement.

      Similarly, they can take a largely true statement and fact check a small part of a statement and put a "False" stamp on it.

      They can omit parts of large statements from the fact checking process i.e. only fact check statements that are "True" from a particular person while only fact checking statements that are "False" from a different person.

      They can use different standards of "fact". Or typical "lying with statistics". For instance - Fact: blacks commit more crime than whites. The fact checker might use "absolute" terms to fact check this statement to conclude it is false. Then they might use "per capita" statistics to fact check other statements.

      They can add a narrative for why something is "false" or "true" that is highly biased to undermine a conclusion or to justify a factually false conclusion.

      Ultimately, "fact checking" is complete and utter bullshit. There is not really a "truth". Even simple, one sentence, statements can be picked apart and be determined false when every common man would agree the statement is true or be determined technically true when every common man knows it is false. If someone writes and article titled "Why Trump will be a terrible president" and presents a case can you "fact check" that? No. It's impossible. Same with an article "Why Trump will be the best president". You simply can't "fact check" anything reliably enough to remove content.

      Then what about original research or breaking news? How do you fact check the initial report? Who is the ultimate arbiter of "facts"? If Trump is shot dead do we have to wait for a death certificate to be issued and submit a public records request to the County he died in to be sure it is a "fact" that he was shot dead?

    10. Re:Who watches the watcher? by MightyMartian · · Score: 2

      I smell a "No True Scotsman" fallacy bubbling to the surface here...

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    11. Re:Who watches the watcher? by MightyMartian · · Score: 1

      And now you can go back to 4chan and repeat memes like that endlessly in your far right circle jerk.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    12. Re:Who watches the watcher? by Hylandr · · Score: 1

      So you're saying the truth has an alt-right-conservative bias then?

      --
      ~ People that think they are better than anyone else for any reason are the cause of all the strife in the world.
    13. Re:Who watches the watcher? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I think I am the only one that got seriously bothered by Hillary in a debate saying things like;

      https://www.washingtonpost.com...

      TRUMP: See, you're telling the enemy everything you want to do. No wonder you've been fighting -- no wonder you've been fighting ISIS your entire adult life.
      CLINTON: That's a -- that's -- go to the -- please, fact checkers, get to work.

      When wikileaks shows collusion between the press and a presidential candidate's campaign staff, and in the middle of a debate said candidate "asks" fact-checkers to "get to work", it strikes me as corruption of the highest order....

      What you quoted from Clinton was a strenuous effort not to scream "Bullshit" on national television. She has been an adult for considerably longer than ISIS's approximate 10 years.

      If you could cite an instance of Clinton getting backup from fact checkers when the facts were not on her side, you might have a point. In this case, you're condemning her for daring to call out Trump being either flagrantly incorrect or lying.

    14. Re:Who watches the watcher? by MightyMartian · · Score: 1

      No, I'm saying the alt-right is going to run out of runway, pretty soon, as they lose the ability to use mainstream social networking and web forum sites to spread their crapola

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    15. Re:Who watches the watcher? by oh_my_080980980 · · Score: 1

      LMOL yeah because the internet begins and ends with Facebook...

    16. Re:Who watches the watcher? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      or that the Russians really did "hack the election" (by exposing Democrat corruption).

      So you think Nixon's only crime in respect to Watergate was getting caught? The Russians (or whoever the hackers were) did exactly what Nixon tried, except they got the documents.

      If you give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest of men, I will find something in them which will hang him. -Attributed to Cardinal Richelieu

    17. Re:Who watches the watcher? by MightyMartian · · Score: 1

      For the purposes of mass dissemination of fake news to as many people as possible, yes, services like Facebook and Twitter are the primary means of delivery.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    18. Re:Who watches the watcher? by Hylandr · · Score: 1

      If the initiative is honest that goes for both sides you know.

      If it's only targeting one side then that's a different beast that I am certain will result in more than one lawsuit. Not because it isn't the private companies right to choose to censor it's users, but because of the effect that might have election seasons.

      Lets be honest here, this 'fake news' bs is all politically motivated.

      It's F- all nearly impossible to tell what story is true and what is not when both sides are trying to cover up wrong-doing or smear the other candidate. It's better to have the 'news' out there with the understanding an accusation is *not* evidence and allow the reader to ruminate upon the plausibility of the charges.

      What really should happen with any accusation is have it go through court to effectively prove or disprove an allegation. Accusation is not evidence, and a trial is not a conviction. Hillary should have had her day in court, if anything to completely dispel any sense of wrong doing. But both the public and Hillary were denied this. Instead, there's a campaign to kill 'fake news'. What's that old phrase? If you have done nothing wrong then what have you to hide? This is why I object to this 'fake news' initiative.

      Whats worse is the news cartels, talk radio, news papers, magazines, etc are all the entertainment industry anyways. Having your publication branded as 'not fake' gives them far more credibility than they deserve.

      --
      ~ People that think they are better than anyone else for any reason are the cause of all the strife in the world.
    19. Re:Who watches the watcher? by unixisc · · Score: 1

      So did the fact checkers call her out when she (laughably) claimed that she wanted open 'energy' borders in the entire Western hemisphere, in response to the debate question about the Wikileaks? Or about her claims that it was okay for her to have a private email server?

    20. Re:Who watches the watcher? by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      Rather than attacking their perceived political position, why but critique their work?

      Or better yet, suggest someone from the right who could do a better job?

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    21. Re:Who watches the watcher? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And the Republicans continue to run their campaigns using Nixon's CRP playbook which, shockingly, includes pushing false narratives - oh, look, Roger Stone was initially an advisor to Trump and then, after having to distance himself from Trump when the public learned how vile he was, formed a group to support Trump.

    22. Re:Who watches the watcher? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Liberalism is a mental disease.

      Nice bit of projecting there, but Conservatism has actually been shown to be a mental disorder, based on the hypersensitivity to threats: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18801995

      You're welcome, now get some meds.

    23. Re:Who watches the watcher? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Liberal: anyone who disagrees with you. Right?

    24. Re:Who watches the watcher? by Tulsa_Time · · Score: 0

      Sounds like an antitrust issue then.

      --
      5 out of 6 people enjoy Russian Roulette & 6 out of 7 Dwarfs are not Happy
    25. Re:Who watches the watcher? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Remember when Bill Clinton said: "I did not have sex with that woman, Monica Lewinski"?
      That sounds kinda final, doesn't it? Surely any story implying the contrary would be labeled as "fake news" by Snopes as a result in the aftermath of such a definite statement, wouldn't it? It was only months later that a certain Semen stained dress appeared.

      Lots of news is on the fringes until new facts come to light. James Risen at the New York Times broke the story about the NSA years before anyone ever heard of Edward Snowden. Yet until Snowden, the NSA spying was dismissed by "serious" sources to be baseless malarkey from a bunch of crazy conspiracy theorists.

      Tread with caution on this censorship stuff - it has a tendency of not ending well.

    26. Re:Who watches the watcher? by MightyMartian · · Score: 1

      Nilihism as a political philosophy. "I don't accept any kind of proof, so therefore it's all lies."

      The pizzeria child porn thing was fake news. Fake all the way down. It was fake fake fake fake fake. It wasn't a mistake. It wasn't somebody misremembering something. It wasn't a screw up. It was a specifically engineered fake story meant to damage a political opponent. And really, the Dems are going to sue? Even if they could actually identify the original creator of the lie, their day in court would be a very long way down the road, so wouldn't exactly have done Clinton any good at all.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    27. Re:Who watches the watcher? by Hylandr · · Score: 1

      I accept solid proof. Anyone that gets their 'news' or 'science' from the entertainment industry are a special kind of stupid.

      You want facts, go look them up yourself or ask someone you trust to look into it. Asking entertainers to be impartial and honest is ludicrous. All they are there for is the paychecks the ratings grab.

      A good example is all over the media. Zimmerman, defending himself but tried and found guilty in the court of public opinion, despite rock solid evidence that pointed to self defense. Michael Brown was a robbery suspect fighting for Wilson's firearm. The current popular 'facts' spread by the media weren't facts at all, and under this new 'anti fake news' regime those lies told by the entertainment industry to incite news-generating riots run the risk of becoming religious dogma.

      But, to be fair, sometimes, months to years later they recant and post something like the following, but it's never hyped like the shootings are.

      https://www.washingtonpost.com...

      So tell me, which of those news articles would have been flagged as fake? And what if the majority of the censors are black and don't like the truth depicted above to be considered 'real news'? Stop pretending you know it wouldn't be flagged as 'fake'.

      --
      ~ People that think they are better than anyone else for any reason are the cause of all the strife in the world.
    28. Re:Who watches the watcher? by Hylandr · · Score: 1

      No, it's not. And if you do you need to step away from the computer, and look around you. For like a year or more.

      --
      ~ People that think they are better than anyone else for any reason are the cause of all the strife in the world.
    29. Re:Who watches the watcher? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Snopes is run by two liberals.

      Doesn't mean it isn't factual.

      As opposed to Faux News which doesn't have enough factual content to even be considered news.

  7. Libel law? by anthony_greer · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If Facebook labels some small time news site as "fake news" would there be a case to be made for defamation if the stories in question were actually factual? For example What about "facts" that are in dispute? Did the Russians hack the DNC or was it an internal leaker who handed the stuff to Wikileaks? One could write an article siting very reputable sources on both sides of that story so which side of that story would be "fake news"

    1. Re:Libel law? by iggymanz · · Score: 1

      Facebook is just a social media site where people could say whatever they wanted (soon to change). If idiots think it is a news site let them, that's the same type of morons who think the tabloid trash rags with alien abductions in them are news.

      snopes vetting stories, hilarious. sometimes they do ok, sometimes they don't.

      Even news sites run fake news, happens here on slashdot all the time. Latest hilarious one was 7-x stellerator story claiming it was "working" and would solve our energy needs. Sorry kids it's only a confinement testing machine that has fused zero atoms to date, and even after some heavy hydrogen loaded in future it will mostly not fuse but only test confinement, no break even intended.

    2. Re:Libel law? by bfpierce · · Score: 2

      If they're in dispute they are not, in fact, 'facts'.

      They're opinion or educated guesses, they can be labeled as such. Maybe this will help the journalists wait until they actually know something before putting trash on the internet.

      Hah, who am I kidding.

    3. Re:Libel law? by rcamans · · Score: 2

      HAH! He said journalists actually know something!. Hilarious!

      --
      wake up and hold your nose
    4. Re:Libel law? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Every time taxes have been cut government revenues go up.

      The above is a fact, and has been proven out every time. It is also in dispute because it goes against the liberal agenda so they will scream and yell when you mention it and how it is a fact and try and spin story after story to make up excuses of why they "think" it is not a fact. So there is a nice clean example of a disputed fact that is actually a proven fact.

      Its just the first example that came to mind with your statement.

    5. Re:Libel law? by bfpierce · · Score: 1

      Well what you're giving is a correlation. The debate is about the causation.

      It's a fact that there's a correlation, so good job reading a graph.

    6. Re:Libel law? by squiggleslash · · Score: 1

      I'm not seeing the problem.

      If the article says "The CIA is now stating that Russian hackers interfered with the US election, hacking both Democratic and Republican communication systems. Further, they believe the intent was to install Donald Trump as President, by smearing Democrats, and giving them access to private, confidential, information about the Republican party." then that's 100% factual. The CIA did say that.

      If the article says "Opinions differ on whether the Russians hacked the Democratic Party, as the CIA claims, or that a private individual affiliated with the Democratic Party did", then that's also technically factual.

      If the article says "I strongly believe that Hillary Clinton murdered a system administrator in order to prevent him from leaking information to Wikileaks", then that's stupid, but it's an opinion, not fake news.

      If the article says "ZeroCredBlog has learned today that Hillary Clinton tried to cover up her crimes by murdering a Wikileaks leaker, trying to make it look like an mugging", then... well, that's in dubious territory. Many people might believe it, but it's improbable ZeroCredBlog has learned anything whatsoever. Facebook would be justified in hiding it until more reliable sources confirm the content of the article.

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
    7. Re:Libel law? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >"The CIA is now stating that Russian hackers interfered with the US election,"
      https://www.cia.gov/news-information/press-releases-statements
      I don't see a press release about this. Are you sure this is a statement by the CIA and not anonymously leaked rumors?

    8. Re:Libel law? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      When and where did C.I.A. say that Russia was behind DNC "hack"`? Give us the date and place of the official anaoncement by the C.I.A.

      And, are the e-mails also "fabricated" and DNC staff did not write them?

      There are 3 different "leaks".
      1) Clinton emails. Given to FBI by Clinton on paper printouts. No "russian" leaking there.
      2) DNC e-mails.
      3) Podesta e-mails. He got scammed by a fake e-mail to rename his password.

    9. Re:Libel law? by unixisc · · Score: 1

      The CIA claim that the Republican site was hacked, and that the Russians had Republican emails as well but chose not to leak them since they were rooting for Trump, would only be news if the GOP chose not to contest that. But the RNC did say that they've NOT been hacked, so obviously, one of them is clearly lying. Now, the case can be made that since the Russians wanted to exact payback against Clinton and Obama, they chose to hack only the DNC, but not the RNC site, and if one made that, it could at least be believable. But claiming that the RNC site was hacked as well, when the RNC denies it and there is no evidence to suggest that the RNC was hacked, is certainly a lie

      And that's the thing. If some Billy Joe Blow on Facebook claims something, and all his friends share it, it becomes fake news, but if the CIA does it, or Josh Ernest, or Martha Radditz or John Harwood do it, it's news? Yeah, keep pretending that journalists have an automatic pass to spread lies and not get called on it

    10. Re:Libel law? by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      There's no problem reporting the facts of what the CIA said about Russian hacking. It's stuff like pizzagate they want to deal with. Stuff that is completely made up, deliberately for political reasons.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    11. Re:Libel law? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What if SuperCredBlog states that it has learned from its sources (which may be ZeroCredBlog) that Hillary Clinton tried to cover up her crimes by murdering a Wikileaks leaker, trying to make it look like an mugging. This is just as true as the CIA example above (without the Appeal to Authority Fallacy).

      Who determines "truth" or is, in your mind, truth just passing the buck to one source down the chain.

    12. Re:Libel law? by bfpierce · · Score: 1

      It's not a publicly available assessment, it's (very obviously) classified and the purview of Congress.

      Did you dipshits actually expect the CIA to put something like that into a fucking press release? lol

    13. Re:Libel law? by Tulsa_Time · · Score: 0

      Antitrust.... plain and simple.

      --
      5 out of 6 people enjoy Russian Roulette & 6 out of 7 Dwarfs are not Happy
    14. Re:Libel law? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      For example What about "facts" that are in dispute? Did the Russians hack the DNC or was it an internal leaker who handed the stuff to Wikileaks? One could write an article siting very reputable sources on both sides of that story so which side of that story would be "fake news"

      Do you even nerd? The same story can have multiple sources! The same leaks could have been gotten through different channels!

    15. Re:Libel law? by jrumney · · Score: 1

      There are always nutcases that dispute facts. If your bar is that facts must be undisputed, then any story claiming that the earth is round will have to be flagged, as will anything dealing with evolution, climate change, vaccines etc...

  8. Decentralized by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    This is why we need a decentralized social networking system where no one controls your speech.

    1. Re:Decentralized by Major+Blud · · Score: 1

      This is why we need a decentralized social networking system where no one controls your speech.

      Good thing you came here to post that. No chance it would get modded down ;-)

      --
      If you post as Anonymous Coward, don't expect a reply.
    2. Re:Decentralized by unixisc · · Score: 1

      Make it AGPL, and distributed, so that nobody can be kicked off it just for their opinions, while people are free to block whatever 'news' they don't like or ain't interested in. Like I deleted the Microsoft News app from my Lumia since they force fed me news from sources I did NOT select.

  9. "Fact Checkers" by Digital+Avatar · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Are these the same "fact checkers" who told us that Iraq had nuclear weapons?

    1. Re:"Fact Checkers" by bfpierce · · Score: 5, Informative

      No I don't think Donald Rumsfeld works for Snopes.

    2. Re:"Fact Checkers" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Snopes is too biased and not to be trusted.

      We need someone to fact-check them.

    3. Re: "Fact Checkers" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Fact checkers for the fact checkers, I like it.

      it's fact checkers all the way down.

    4. Re:"Fact Checkers" by DogDude · · Score: 1

      Snopes is too biased and not to be trusted.

      That's a lie.

      --
      I don't respond to AC's.
    5. Re:"Fact Checkers" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      nope, it's the "fake news" that led you to believe Rumsfeld said that. He never did. Sorry, you've been conned.

    6. Re:"Fact Checkers" by Digital+Avatar · · Score: 1

      Ah yes, I must've been hallucinating all that talk about yellowcake that was used to justify the invasion.

    7. Re:"Fact Checkers" by bfpierce · · Score: 1

      I suppose if you believe in the 'absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence' as a justification for 'WHOOPS' or that Donald Rumsfeld didn't push for the operation in the first place, or that the whole uranium bit was a tiny intelligence thread pushed by him as 'credible' didn't really happen (lol) you'll believe anything right?

    8. Re:"Fact Checkers" by unixisc · · Score: 1

      Actually, the question should be - are these the same 17 intelligence agencies that kept telling us that Iraq had WMDs?

    9. Re: "Fact Checkers" by unixisc · · Score: 1

      There should be n levels of fact checking, where the n'th fact-checker is checked by fact checker 1, and n's opinions are different from 1's

    10. Re:"Fact Checkers" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Levels of bureaucracy just what we need.

    11. Re:"Fact Checkers" by aristotheron · · Score: 0

      But maybe Snopes works for the same people who Donald Rumsfeld works for, directly or indirectly? Who could say?

    12. Re: "Fact Checkers" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      At some point we have to expect people to not be so gullible. That's hopeless.

  10. One more step towards 1984 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Fake news or, in other words, a narrative not supported by the State.

    1. Re:One more step towards 1984 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Exactly.

      Like when they called some Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth news 'fake news'.

    2. Re:One more step towards 1984 by bfpierce · · Score: 2

      The tin foil is strong with this one.

    3. Re:One more step towards 1984 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well Trump is president so it should be all alt-right news. Eh?

    4. Re:One more step towards 1984 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Call me what you want. Before Snowden, illegal unconsitutional dragnet survelliance was just a "conspiracy". One day, if you wake up, you'll realize they are playing chess while the public doesn't even know what checkers is.

      What, you think 1984 happens overnight? Looking forward to the "fact checking" from Kim LaCapria of Snoopes. Not like it says: "Kim later began writing for the site due to an executive order unilaterally passed by President Obama during a secret, late-night session (without the approval of Congress)" underneath her Snopes posts.

  11. Fact checkers?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Politico?! ABC News (whose major news correspondent was a high ranked DNC operative?!)

    Why not just let the people talk about what they want to talk about? It's a social media site. Key word... SOCIAL. Just say you'll only tag news from "approved" news sources and drop this Orwellian thought control move to dictate what's a "fact".

  12. Climate Change! [FAKE NEWS] by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The world is warming rapidly due to the effects of humans!

  13. Probably too little, too late by Zontar_Thing_From_Ve · · Score: 2, Insightful

    In the USA a rather significant chunk of their users are pretty hard core Republican Party supporters. And a large number of these people live for false news. Fact checking means nothing to them. One of the ways the right has been able to get false news to spread is by rebuking fact checkers. For example, one person I know simply refuses to believe anything Snopes posts. Why?
    1) Snopes got fooled on something that was a parody which it didn't understand and labeled a hoax. I don't remember exactly what it was. But it was a really bad miss on their part because it was pretty obvious to everybody not at Snopes that it wasn't serious. This made Snopes look untrustworthy or possibly dishonest themselves.
    2) Certain right wing groups have labeled Snopes as an agent of the Democratic Party. Since they are debunking a lot more nonsense attacking Democrats than Republicans, those who don't look beyond the surface can be rather easily convinced that this is the case.
    3) Some people have figured out that by saying that Snopes is lying that there's basically no other well known reputable source to fact check anything, so people don't bother to check stuff because they don't think they can trust anybody.
    4) The right also has an excuse, used recently by one of Trump's cabinet nominees, of "I'm not an official news source, so it's not my job to fact check what I pass on."

    I have come to the sad conclusion that in the USA at least we're living in a "post-fact, post-truth" world where it no longer matters if anything is truthful or accurate if enough people believe it. Too many people I know just don't care anymore about whether anything is accurate if it matches up with their political beliefs or attacks those they disagree with. This is going to have disastrous consequences for the world in general. Russia has been living in this kind of world for a very long time and China is well on its way to it too. China is whipping up nationalistic sentiments to support the Communist Party dictatorship that it won't be able to control. My biggest fear is that a war with China is going to start because some Chinese general took it on himself to start an attack based on some kind of lie he believed after years of being whipped into a frenzy that the USA is out to get China. You guys think it was bad when the whole Iraq War was started by the USA on lies about WMD? Wait until a war gets started on a tweet that is a lie. We're not that far off.

    1. Re:Probably too little, too late by deadwill69 · · Score: 1

      I hope that you are not correct. That's not a future I want to see. I also realize that is a future we are very likely to see. Sooner than later.

    2. Re:Probably too little, too late by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I have come to the sad conclusion that in the USA at least we're living in a "post-fact, post-truth" world where it no longer matters if anything is truthful or accurate if enough people believe it.

      Like, "Hillary's gonna win and Trump has no chance," or do you mean like "Bernie lost fair and square"?

      Too many people I know just don't care anymore about whether anything is accurate if it matches up with their political beliefs or attacks those they disagree with.

      Like the anti-Trump protesters in San Jose, Los Angeles, and San Diego, who were assaulting innocent people passing by Trump rallies?

      Wait until a war gets started on a tweet that is a lie.

      Like, "Assad and Russia are butchering civilians and we need to do something to protect them" kind of Tweets?

    3. Re:Probably too little, too late by penandpaper · · Score: 2

      I have come to the sad conclusion that in the USA at least we're living in a "post-fact, post-truth" world where it no longer matters if anything is truthful or accurate if enough people believe it.

      We have always been in a 'post-fact' world.

    4. Re:Probably too little, too late by swb · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I have come to the sad conclusion that in the USA at least we're living in a "post-fact, post-truth" world where it no longer matters if anything is truthful or accurate if enough people believe it. Too many people I know just don't care anymore about whether anything is accurate if it matches up with their political beliefs or attacks those they disagree with.

      I think somewhere along the line sociopolitical positions (which, IMHO, in the broad center are neither good nor bad, true nor false) began to get pushed using selectively chosen "facts" to make the advocated policy seem as if it, too, was factual in nature. It was a kind of rhetorical persuasion, almost like sales techniques -- "Everybody knows that that less housework makes a wife happy, and the Vacuum2000 really reduces housework. If you won't buy one, ask yourself why you want an unhappy wife."

      Anyway, I think this began to highlight a conceptual difference between truth and facts. I would argue that nearly every thing that is *true* is made up of a constellation of related facts. Cherry-picking facts allows you to manufacture a truth, but when that truth diverges significantly from reality it causes a cognitive dissonance, and people generally tend to side with the truth most closely aligned with their perceived reality.

      I think this has led us to the point where people ignore facts -- too often they're not used to try to accurately describe a perceived truth, but to create a truth.

      I think globalism is probably a great example. Lots of people using facts to advocate for it as embodying the ideal outcome, yet for millions of people, despite the facts that seem to support it, see their life undermined by globalism -- jobs moved away, problems with immigrants, and so on. Do you believe the facts or the truth around you?

      (And I'm not meaning to take a position on globalism. I'm sure the benefits of trade are great, but they're poorly distributed. Cultural diversity is nice, in a Disney Epcot way, but I think humans generally do poorly when they hold divergent views on many topics, and the results are usually ugly at best or grinding warfare at worst).

    5. Re:Probably too little, too late by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      No, we haven't. What has changed is that some politicians have stopped even pretending to tell the truth.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    6. Re:Probably too little, too late by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ... jobs moved away, problems with immigrants ...

      Globalism is a nebulous name for a collection of 'small planet' policies.

      The first one is is free trade, or more accurately, no-barrier trade; the point of which is more production and lower prices. It doesn't promise you a job, which is troublesome as we know because jobs tend to move to the third-world. Worse, sometimes the richer country actually pays for this, thus willfully damaging their own labour resource.

      The second is multiculturalism which encourages equality and sees diversity as beneficial. Unfortunately, people are different and that applies to the immigrants who are suddenly isolated from a world of words and customs they don't understand. Many times they don't want to join their new community: So it's the townsfolk who are heard when everyone says integration and assimilation has failed. Blaming the messenger doesn't fix the problem so the failures grow until there is a measurable cost.

      Globalism is, in essence, governments working against the needs of their own citizens: Not by implementing free trade or multiculturalism, which citizens heartily blame, but by not mitigating the costs of such policies.

    7. Re:Probably too little, too late by penandpaper · · Score: 1

      That is not new.

      Besides, does it really matter that Micheal Howard was pretending to tell the truth? What difference does it make to the individual that Micheal Howard was pretending to tell the truth or whether some website said Trump won the popular vote?

      The onus is still on the individual to sift through the information and find truth. No matter how you dress it up, what words you use to describe it, or the immediate effect it has on society; the individual has to discern for themselves truth in a sea of information, facts, lies, and misinformation. That has always been around and will always be the case. Someone is always trying to convince you of something whether you (or I) buy bullshit is on you (or I).

      How do you know a politician is lying? Their lips are moving. This didn't become some joke of a truism because of recent examples. It has always been this way and always will be.

      Snake-oil salesmen and their tactics have always been around.

    8. Re:Probably too little, too late by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      Howard clearly felt embarrassment at telling lies, and suffered for it. Trump is proud. He boosted that he could shoot someone in the street with no ill effects to his campaign. Gove said people were fed up with experts.

      It's not just lying, it's acknowledging that what you say is bullshit and reveling in it. Gove literally said "I'm lying to you, but it's what you want to hear so vote for me".

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    9. Re:Probably too little, too late by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's not "post-fact, post-truth" its more faith based truth.

      Republicans prey on the weak minded. Their base is very religious, and religion requires belief system is based on faith, not facts, as there are none about god. Once you have a population of people that basically will believe in whatever their elders/betters say as fact, it is an easy population to control.

      It comes down to that many people do not want to think for themselves and value a sense of belonging more than sense of self.
      The part I don't get is the cognitive dissidence required to believe that jesus would be a republican.

    10. Re:Probably too little, too late by penandpaper · · Score: 1

      This is new, how? There was a reason why people bought into it: because the monumental failure of MSM in these last few decades. They saw little lies continuously told. Then bigger lies. Eventually you see enough lies you disregard everything they say as a lie until someone comes into fill the void left behind. It is not irrational to disregard what a liar says. The MSM is perceived as liars and political ideologues because they have continually lied and pushed political narratives.

      There was a demand for something different and there are others there to fill that void that was left by the incompetence of MSM. How is that new? This fake news 'post-fact' narrative is MSM bitching that they lost the narrative to sub-par competition of narrative pushers.

      Again, how is a snake-oil salesman different today than 100 years ago? Are we some how fundamentally different that we lost our ability to critically think about the information that we are presented with? No. A snake-oil salesman is the same and we are no different today than in yesteryear.

    11. Re:Probably too little, too late by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      It's new because it slowly got worse, finally came to a head and people realised they could use it to their advantage.

      For example, newspapers knew why what sold to some degree, but with nothing like the detail or vital capability of clickbait.

      The abuse of statics was particularly bad, because it made people think that even facts were untrue.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    12. Re:Probably too little, too late by penandpaper · · Score: 1

      TBH, it sounds exactly like these arguments https://xkcd.com/1227/

      Slowly got worse over years? Decades? Centuries? People/organizations using information (or disinformation) to their advantage.... that seems new? Nothing like the propaganda of old?

      newspapers knew why what sold to some degree, but with nothing like the detail or vital capability of clickbait.

      That doesn't sound new it just sounds like new technologies and mediums through which newspapers and other news sources must operate. Clickbait, is a new term for a poster titled; "The Dog Faced Man" or "The Bearded Lady". Just look at the circus posters from yesteryear and tell me those don't look like clickbait from a different time.

      The abuse of statics was particularly bad, because it made people think that even facts were untrue.

      [I am assuming you meant statistics in 'statics' and typo.]

      Hasn't statistics always had this problem? There are lies, damn lies and statistics? Your telling me people abusing statistics to their advantage is somehow new and novel today then the past? Come on, just look how long the gun debate has been going on to see how statistics is bastardized to see how each side use it to their advantage.

    13. Re:Probably too little, too late by penandpaper · · Score: 1

      I think this is a pretty good conversation about this topic. Both are articulate, a liberal and conservative that are not screaming at each other and giving each other an opportunity to express thier opinion on the subject.
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

      Just thought you might like and was interesting pertaining to this subject.

    14. Re:Probably too little, too late by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's like you live in a world where nobody can be misguided or believe wrong things.

      Personally I blame all of my problems on my evil twin who I've never seen but I've been convinced by an anonymous person on Infowars that he exists and is united against me. Clearly my evil twin is undermining my success and I want Trump to do something about it.

      Also I think the Earth is flat, I demand you respect my opinion on that matter and agree that it is in fact, flat.

    15. Re:Probably too little, too late by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      Not decades. It's really the last year, maybe two tops.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    16. Re:Probably too little, too late by penandpaper · · Score: 1

      Well, I disagree on that. I think it has been around for a very long time that falls into/out of fashion periodically. For example: the Spanish American war and the yellow-journalism that reported on it. Just read a bit on Wikipedia to get an idea and then tell me we are unique in having politicians and journalists more concerned about themselves than the facts. Who are also willing to lie to promote their agenda.

  14. Bad news by nyri · · Score: 2

    This is bad news as these fact checkers have proven to be just as biased as any other news souce such sa MSNBC or Fox News. They are fake authorities to decide what is true and what is not. This will lead to ever more tighter group think in the left leaning segments of the society while the right leaning segments will get alienated even further by what they call "mainstream media" institutions. It only takes one false positive identification of "fake news" to discredit this as cencorship by any right leaning person. (And trust me, the bias is there, so the false positive is something that will annoy right leaning people, not left leaning.)

    In short: Don't do it. Please. Instead try to work it so that people get exposed to other points of views.

    1. Re:Bad news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Please do not mistake the pro-Fake News people for left-leaning citizens. They are liberals, who want war. Left-leaning people oppose foreign intervention, MSNBC &co. want us to bomb more people, harder. That is not a left position.

  15. "Fact" Checkers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Would those be the same fact checkers employed by places like Politifact, that have been repeatedly caught lying about what is fact?

    1. Re:"Fact" Checkers by DogDude · · Score: 1

      ... or would it be some anonymous person, lying about Politifact lying?

      --
      I don't respond to AC's.
    2. Re:"Fact" Checkers by tranquilidad · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Forbes has a pretty good article covering Politifact's issues related to their truthiness judging.

      In 2008, Politifact rated as True Obama's claim that if you like your plan you can keep it. The Forbes article notes that the author of that truth-o-meter article didn't check with any health-care skeptics.

      In 2009, Politifact changed their rating for the claim to 1/2 true.

      In 2013, Politifact labeled it the "lie of the year."

      Politifact's 2008 rating was "widely repeated by pro-Obama reporters and pundits, and had a meaningful impact on the outcome of the election."

      So, was Politifact's wrong analysis of Obama's 2008 claims "fake news?"

      Were they lying or just being too lazy.

      When they judge Trump's claim that Obama was the founder of ISIS in the literal sense but don't rate Hillary's comment that Trump is a recruiting sergeant for ISIS at all, either literally or metaphorically, then yes, I'll claim that Politifact is lying or at least intentionally distorting the truth.

      Facebook absolutely has the right to determine what gets posted on their site and people have the right to use their product or not. The government on the other hand has no business promoting censorship of anything, including fake news. Fake news isn't new and people have a personal responsibility to explore the "truthiness" of what they read, hear and see.

    3. Re:"Fact" Checkers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You mean that Politifact is not writing the news "fact checking" like it seems "proper" for politifact?

    4. Re:"Fact" Checkers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You'll note that Obama did not pass any law outright canceling any health insurance plans. That was how it was presented. That Obama would destroy everything related to the private insurance and health care industry and force us all to go to government hospitals.

      Did plans get cancelled? That was all on the the Insurance companies. It still is, they chose to cancel plans, rather than keep them compliant. That happens every year, whether federal or state. You don't see the complaints that Mississippi or Alabama is taking away people's health insurance.

      Nor did Obama force anyone to take a government plan, as it was portrayed. Politifact was correct to give him the benefit of the doubt. Their error was buying into the lie. They were being foolish, and pandering to a crowd. Of course, I would say Obama was foolish for making such a promise, all it would take is one company deciding to cancel a swath of plans and everybody would blame him. He should have had the sense to parse his words better.

      And the difference was indeed, Trump used the word "literally" and was even insistent on it. Doggedly, despite given every chance to revise his words and admit the reality. Hillary Clinton, possessing some capacity to think, would probably have the sense tell you she was speaking figuratively. That's the lesson to be learned from that interaction. Trump does not know what the word "literally" means. For that, he should be mocked. Severely.

      But no, the government certainly is in the business of preventing companies from lying and deceiving the public. They don't do enough. I see advertisements every day for fake products, and you know what? They'd complain it was censorship telling them they couldn't advertise that way. In fact, they do.

  16. I wish somebody would fact check your post by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What insipid drivel.

  17. Everything posted by The Onion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    = Fake News

    1. Re:Everything posted by The Onion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Lately you could say the same about Washington Post and NYT. And don't forget the ones that have been fake forever: USAToday, HuffPost, Salon, MSNBC, etc.

  18. It is The Fatal Flaw of The Left by RobotRunAmok · · Score: 1, Insightful

    See, the Right (and the Middle, for that matter...) has grown up, for generations, knowing there are Other Serious Opinions Out There. They had no choice, the Leftist slant to the media guaranteed that they knew of, would hear, opinions different than their own. The Righties had their favorite Hollywood actors and musicians -- how could they not? -- and they inevitably were interested in what their opinions were on the news of the day. And with very few exceptions, they learned their celluloid idols thought about politics and the world very differently than they did. And for the most part, the Righties said, "well, okay, then."

    But the Lefties have lived in a bubble. Their newsfeeds and pop stars and college professors all had the same slanted worldview. "Who could think otherwise?" they wondered, amused at the very notion. They breathed life into a homunculus, some Midwestern Hyuck-Hyuck'ing Cousin-Marrying Religious Zealot who lived in that central two-thirds of the nation that they had never visited and likely never would, and their pop culture machine turned that dorky strawman into a recurring punchline, a mustache-twirling villain, a sad refrain, a sinister scarecrow.

    With the Trump victory, and the extension of their lives into online, "virtual" neighborhoods, the Lefties are slowly -- very slowly, maybe so slowly that some of their media enterprises will in fact go under -- realizing that not only are the Righties not as few in number as they thought, they are just as well educated (not necessarily "schooled," but educated) as they are, and most importantly, they are right there, next to them.

    1. Re:It is The Fatal Flaw of The Left by MightyMartian · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Concocting stories of pizzeria pedophile rings is not "other serious opinions". It's deliberately fabricated fake news.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    2. Re:It is The Fatal Flaw of The Left by oh_my_080980980 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      You mean like the Associated Press saying Hillary Clinton won the Democratic Nomination, when she didn't and on the eve the California Primary? You mean fake news like that...

    3. Re:It is The Fatal Flaw of The Left by MightyMartian · · Score: 1

      What a fine collection of crackpottery you've provided

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    4. Re:It is The Fatal Flaw of The Left by MightyMartian · · Score: 2

      I don't think "Dewey Defeats Truman" is in quite the same league as "Comet Ping Pong Pizza Democrat Child-trafficking HQ".

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    5. Re:It is The Fatal Flaw of The Left by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I know, that is just like the biased media. Now they are calling Trump the President-elect when he hasn't been elected to anything! The electoral college doesn't meet for several days. Think about that, talking about the next President as if we could reasonably conclude how the electoral college will vote. Exactly the same thing.

    6. Re:It is The Fatal Flaw of The Left by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A plurality of Clinton voters say the election was rigged - that vote manipulation or fraud led to the election of Trump.
      As mentioned elsewhere, the "Hands up, Don't Shoot!" lie has been pushed for years, and has led directly to major rioting and the murder of police officers.
      The SPLC claimed that the Family Research Council was a hate organization, and inspired an attempted mass-murderer to attack it.
      After Dan Rather's pathetic attempt to push fraudulent documents, the media famously came out in support of him, saying "Fake but accurate".

      The Left has pushed "fake news" for many years, but just like in 2000 and 2004, as soon as they lose, it's time for "cleaning up the news", "truth in reporting", a new "Fairness doctrine", or some other form of censorship.

    7. Re:It is The Fatal Flaw of The Left by aristotheron · · Score: 0

      So stories of actual, prosecuted, pedophilia among our leaders are for some reason insignificant because you cherry-picked an easy target as an excuse to bring up an irrelevant topic as an example for your support of fake news?

      It's not deliberately fabricated. People are confused about the greater context of things that is opening up to them in the information age. There is consensus information that supports this kind of sentiment. They aren't stupid for keeping these things in mind. They just need to learn how to handle it.

    8. Re:It is The Fatal Flaw of The Left by MightyMartian · · Score: 1

      And I do trust you have stopped beating your wife, right?

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    9. Re:It is The Fatal Flaw of The Left by aristotheron · · Score: 1

      What? I guess you got caught off guard with a total upheaval of your premise and just defaulted to some kind of non-sense retort

    10. Re:It is The Fatal Flaw of The Left by ADRA · · Score: 2

      I dunno. Like so many other things in politics, it looks like the used statistical probability. I was curious and found:
      https://www.washingtonpost.com...

      Basically you have superdelegates. If 51% of them said they'd vote 100% without a doubt that they're voting for HamSandwich, then we all basically know its going to happen, but its still not safe to call the race, since 1% is a very tiny margin of error. A few delegates for HamSandwich could have a heart-attack and now you're only at 49% of 100% voters. So let me push my magic margin to 70% of the 100% confident voters. If that's MY (yes editorial control and all that) bar to measure a sure win, then I can call the race even if not everyone reports, or has even voted yet. When was the last election people waited for Hawaii to cast their votes before predicting a winner? Oh yeah: Never.

      --
      Bye!
    11. Re:It is The Fatal Flaw of The Left by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You mean like the well documented international incident where hillarys friend got caught in hati trying to abduct 33 kids and hillary had to bail her out?

    12. Re:It is The Fatal Flaw of The Left by MightyMartian · · Score: 1

      What upheaval of my premise. That there are pedophiles in the political classes, as there are in every other single walk of life is hardly surprising. The fact remains the pizzeria story was completely false, a made up story designed to do specific political damage. That there are actual pedophiles in Washington is utterly and completely irrelevant.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    13. Re:It is The Fatal Flaw of The Left by aristotheron · · Score: 1

      "designed to do specific political damage"
      What indication is there that it was "designed"?

      What is this specific political damage?

      "That there are actual pedophiles in Washington is utterly and completely irrelevant."
      To what? Your blinders-on narrative? Unless you want to argue that federal governance is totally irrelevant to our lives, or that pedophilia is harmless, you aren't making sense.

    14. Re:It is The Fatal Flaw of The Left by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ...realizing that not only are the Righties not as few in number as they thought, they are just as well educated (not necessarily "schooled," but educated) as they are....

      Definition of oxymoronic ...

    15. Re:It is The Fatal Flaw of The Left by marquisdepolis · · Score: 1

      How dare they extrapolate from trends using statistics, as has happened in literally every election known to man ... The nerve!

  19. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 0

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  20. Gab.ai is looking good by Okian+Warrior · · Score: 4, Insightful

    And once again, Facebook is a private organization, and has the right to remove any content they want to. Don't like it, go use some other social networking platform.

    Of course, that does mean the fake news purveyors are likely to start losing the large audience they had relied on, but is that such a bad thing? There's always Breitbart and Stormfront!

    On that note, a Twitter replacement called Gab.ai has sprung up that claims to enforce free speech.

    It's currently in beta so signups are put on a waiting list, but I managed to get in pretty quick (the wait was less than a week). It's not as sophisticated as Twitter is *currently*, but I really like the free speech aspect of it.

    Speech they don't tolerate are things that are patently illegal in the US, plus doxing: Illegal pornography, threats and terrorism, and private information.

    If you're bothered by someone, you can set a personal filter to remove their posts from your feed. If you're bothered by certain words, you can set another filter to remove posts with those words.

    Beyond that, they claim that they will make no restrictions on free speech.

    In the 2 months since it started it's become reasonably popular. According to Alexa rankings, it's currently about the same as Slashdot (after 2 months!).

    ATM gab seems to be under-represented by the left. People are mostly civil, and...

    wonder of wonders... the humour channel is actually funny.

    1. Re:Gab.ai is looking good by MightyMartian · · Score: 0

      And good luck with it. I suspect it will just become another 4chan, a place where the bottom dwellers come for the right wing circle jerk.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    2. Re:Gab.ai is looking good by kuzb · · Score: 3, Insightful

      As opposed to what? The bottom dwellers who come for the left wing circle jerk?

      --
      BeauHD. Worst editor since kdawson.
    3. Re:Gab.ai is looking good by MightyMartian · · Score: 1

      Well, if that's what Facebook wants to be (by your interpretation), then that's Facebook's right.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    4. Re:Gab.ai is looking good by AmiMoJo · · Score: 2

      Have you read Twitter's rules? They are identical. Only stuff that is illegal in the US is banned. They stick to those rules too.

      Do these guys offer anything new? Or do you just like them because, as you say, it's a right wing echo chamber?

      --
      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:Gab.ai is looking good by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1

      I suspect it will just become another 4chan, a place where the bottom dwellers come for the right wing circle jerk.

      It's already turned into exactly that.

      Even alt-Right spokesperson and porn star Tila Tequila has quit gab because it was too much of a sewer. Think about that a second.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    6. Re:Gab.ai is looking good by lgw · · Score: 1, Insightful

      "Hate speech" is legal in the US, but banned on Twitter. "Openly conservative" is legal in the US, but banned on Twitter. But, hey, continue enjoying your left-wing echo chamber if it pleases you - it's both your right and Twitter's.

      --
      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
    7. Re:Gab.ai is looking good by AmiMoJo · · Score: 4, Informative

      Look up Brandenburg v. Ohio. Twitter's rules match US law.

      All your comment about openly conservative people on Twitter does is discredit you.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    8. Re:Gab.ai is looking good by lgw · · Score: 1

      "Twitter's rules match US law."

      Like I said - it's your right to think you're right. Enjoy your community-based reality.

      --
      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
    9. Re:Gab.ai is looking good by MightyMartian · · Score: 2

      And that's why the alt-right is so spooked about Twitter and Facebook beginning to reign in the fake news. They could never create a social networking site that anyone other than they and their fellow travelers in space and time would want to frequent. They need the large distribution network that sites like Twitter and Facebook represent. By the same token, Twitter and Facebook face a crisis of legitimacy of their own if they allow themselves to become a swamp of far-right goons. I've seen even some successful forums collapse under the weight of trolls, as ordinary users simply abandoned the platforms out of frustration.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    10. Re:Gab.ai is looking good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Openly Conservative" is not banned on twitter. I can't wait to see what non-credible links and blog posts you're gonna trot out.

    11. Re:Gab.ai is looking good by Mashiki · · Score: 1

      And that's why the alt-right is so spooked about Twitter and Facebook beginning to reign in the fake news.

      It's not the alt-right. It's anyone who has a desire for open discussion who's spooked over it. In my neck of the woods here in Canada we have two groups of people that mainly live here: Ex-UK citizens who've left over the last decade, and people who fled from communism(either the 1950's or the 1980's). Both groups of people when you sit and just listen in the restaurants and places like Timmy's are saying the same thing. They see striking parallels between the controlling of media, and the desire for particular groups of people to control what's seen and heard.

      Twitter is already facing a crisis of legitimacy. Facebook on the other hand is likely to see one in the next year with their big "fake news" push. People will see it for what it is, propaganda. Round that out with this being a violation of Facebook's common carrier defense? It's going to get very interesting for them, just like it is for reddit.

      --
      Om, nomnomnom...
    12. Re:Gab.ai is looking good by kuzb · · Score: 2

      If your idea of a political range consists solely of "far left" and "far right" then it's clear you don't understand people, never mind politics.

      --
      BeauHD. Worst editor since kdawson.
    13. Re:Gab.ai is looking good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He says, as he enjoys his community based reality.

  21. When fake news is rampant... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    We, here at Facebook care deeply about it! ...when an election doesn't go our way...

    We'd not be hearing about the problems of fake news from the media or any of these companies had they gotten their way...and that's a fact...

  22. Faceberg - the nose knows by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Visit dailystormer.com to learn more about the nose.

  23. If I may point out by H3lldr0p · · Score: 5, Insightful

    that our issues with factual discourse have little to do with the quality of the news and everything to do with the ability to synthesize information into emotional & cognitive context.

    That is to say, it doesn't matter if you tell someone who is pro-war that their country is murdering children. This hypothetical individual is effectively immune from this fact through a combination of propaganda and cognitive biases. It doesn't matter that in all other circumstances this hypothetical individual screams, "Won't someone think about the children", you will not be able to break through to them. At least not directly.

    What we are seeing in the US. What we have been experiencing for about 30 years now, is a confluence of certain philosophical positions coming together. In the last couple of days I had it pointed out to me something that should have been far more obvious. There are a lot of my fellow citizens that live by the Just World Hypothesis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just-world_hypothesis/. Combine this with our friend the Prosperity Gospel, and I think you can contextualize so much of the past year.

    Given this, we cannot attack the problem directly. Because the problem isn't fake news. The problem is an inability to connect one's actions to the world at large. And I feel that this disconnection is due to a massive amount of wishful thinking. The wishful thought that everything will work itself out. The wishful thought that you get what you deserve. The wishful thought that your one vote doesn't make a difference.

    To get around this, we need people to understand that the world doesn't just exist in their household, their neighborhood, or just their town. That we are acting and operating on a global level these days. The world is simultaneously larger and smaller than it has been ever before. It does matter if you choose to get a fuel-efficient three or four cylinder car vs the monstrous SUV because within your lifetime people will be displaced because of that choice. How fast that happens depends on what you choose. You are a part of that chain, whether or not you want to be. And it is up to you to stay current with how you impact things. Even in the smallest, out of the way place in the middle of no-where. This choice makes a difference. And each day, going forward has to be a learn-unlearn-relearn process.

    1. Re:If I may point out by mujadaddy · · Score: 1

      I think you're pretty insightful there.

      --
      Populus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur...
      "Force shits upon Reason's back." - Poor Richard's Almanac
    2. Re:If I may point out by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But we don't operate on a global scale. It makes no difference if a country is in civil war and people are being killed to people that live on the other side of the world. There is no consequence for paying attention to it or completely ignoring it, nor is there any consequence for the war stopping or everyone dying.

      Your reality is what you create. If you want to feel bad about stuff you have no control over that happens globally, no one will stop you from feeling bad. Actually doing something about it is close to impossible on an individual basis.

      You fail to realize that basic human nature dictates people are selfish and greedy and they care a lot more about themselves than other people. Just because you expose the events that don't hit home, don't relate to them doesn't mean they care beyond themselves.

      You live in a fantasy world that's not represented in real life.

    3. Re:If I may point out by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Right on many levels, but overly simplified on many others. Example: you state, unequivocally, that someone who chooses the monstrous SUV *will* displace people because that choice, when in reality there are an infinite number of other possible activities that person can undertake which not only makes up for this but far surpasses it. A billionaire philanthropist and climate change activist could choose to transport themselves around the planet using hydrocarbons and non-green methods, but that may be in service of work that has a higher positive benefit than the negatives (e.g. necessary evils).

      You see, some people will read the post you wrote and realize there's something not quite right about it. Instead of being able to put their finger on what exactly they don't like about it they will dismiss it as being just another biased viewpoint, and then you've lost them. The truth is that nothing is ever so black and white as you stated and people have a built-in bullsh*t detector for anything stated in black or white terms like this.

  24. good, because I want to this addressed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    how about removing fake news about Assad troops massacring civilians in Aleppo? It's all over the mainstream media and is totally fake, invented and spread by paid bloggers and journalists.

  25. Except bias by argStyopa · · Score: 1, Insightful

    1) any system allowing people to flag things as false news will be bias driven. "Oh, it says X is a liar, that's not true, so (flag)"!

    2) Snopes? http://dailycaller.com/2016/06...

    --
    -Styopa
    1. Re:Except bias by bfpierce · · Score: 3, Insightful

      1.) Dailycaller (lmao)

      I'd be much more interested if it was an article about how snopes did a poor job of fact checking. Instead it's a big ol cry fest about how she's a liberal. Read: I don't give a shit if the job is getting done correctly.

    2. Re:Except bias by argStyopa · · Score: 1

      Read the article, it (as far as I checked, correctly) notes that her 'fact checking' is more cheerleading than empirical, and that things she says are "incorrect facts" (and on which, ostensibly the validity of an article is measured) are merely opinions.

      I'm not saying Dailycaller is any great shakes but of the points they referenced, they got correct.

      --
      -Styopa
    3. Re:Except bias by bfpierce · · Score: 1

      I did read it. It was a cry fest with little to do with the quality of fact checking of anything current. Very little.

      How she ran a failed blog all those years ago isn't really relevant, and again, comes off as wanting to have a big old cry.

    4. Re:Except bias by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I checked one on your challenge, the last one actually on income inequality. And they were full of it. The author cherry picked words in a speech and made it completely out of context. Snopes looks even more valid in comparison in that it gave a large block of the speech for context, making it obviously the entire speech was not about income inequality but one of many topics you'd expect a democratic nominee for president to speak about, and inequality wasn't nearly as obvious in the speech as a call for future growth.

  26. Finally by Hylandr · · Score: 2

    Finally maybe we will start to see the decline of Facebook.

    I see no way how this could be abused.

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

      Finally maybe we will start to see the decline of Facebook.

      That would be a tragic disastrous calamity. *sniff*

      But *sob* if it's the price we have to pay ...

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

      Oh the In-Humanity! :)

      --
      ~ People that think they are better than anyone else for any reason are the cause of all the strife in the world.
  27. This is actually getting kind of scary... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    First Brexit, then Trump, and now we're seeing a rapidly accelerating nosedive into censorship in The West, as established powers realize they are losing their grip :/

    I think we're getting very close to a point, where the public at large are actually becoming aware of their own power, are increasingly aware of how they're being fucked hard from every angle, aware of how their future has been stolen from them, and are becoming aware enough to fight back en masse - and that this new wave of censorship, are the established powers trying to put the genie back in the bottle, when it's already far too late.

    Things could get very ugly over the coming years - the citizens of western countries, may soon find out that the sprawling surveillance institutions and civil-liberties-eroding anti-'terror' laws, that have been nurtured over the last decade and a half (as well as the buildup of the private military industry accompanying this), may soon be turned against domestic populations to quell political dissent.

    You've been warned. Repeatedly. This is what innumerable public figures have been sounding the alarm about for decades now, as people have let their civil liberties be stripped away.

  28. So, Democrats willl label non-Democrats "fake" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Snopes? Politifact? Facebook? .... REALLY? ..... these are all Democrat-aligned entities staffed primarily by Democrats/Socialists whose political contributions and editorials are all favorable to Democrats, so much so that about a year ago Facebook realized that they, as a corporation, were having trouble even communicating with conservatives. Even now, Google is trying to hire people who know some Republicans/Conserrvatives/Libertarians because they have few contacts with such people and need to figure out how to relate to them with Democrats out of power in DC starting in late January.

    The people who were all cuddly with Team Hillary, and eagerly parroted all the fake news her campaign and supporters shoveled..... the people who spent the past year providing fake polls showing Trump could not win, and fake news about how "open" Hillary was while she never held a single actual press conference through an entire presidential cycle, and fake news about the greatness of the economy and employment (as Obama became the first US President in history to never manage to create a single quarter of growth of at least 3% and pushed the labor participation rate down to levels only matched by Jimmy Carter in the 1970s) .... THOSE HYPER-DISHONEST and HYPER-PARTISAN freaks are going to censor your news?????????

     

    They are just doubling-down n their Democrat activism. They are going to become unabashed propagandists who will make the communications of the 3rd Reich look amateurish. Anything that is critical of Democrats or of these Democrat-aligned internet entities will be labelled "fake news" and their users will be encouraged to ignore any of this contrary communication. This is a continuation of the 8-year long Obama rants against Fox News and the left-wing meme that the only news outlet not kissing Obama's posterior was "Faux News" and is unprecedented in our history (previous presidents complained about their coverage, but they did not label particular news outlets as "fake" from the white house podium).

  29. CNN by CAIMLAS · · Score: 1, Troll

    I've been busy flagging the specious content-free claims on my feed, and it's working. I'm no longer seeing many CNN or Snopes links on my feed.

    --
    ~/ssh slashdot.org ssh: connect to host slashdot.org port 22: too many beers
    1. Re:CNN by budgenator · · Score: 2

      I've found most of the "alt-right" fake news sites all seem to have the same click-bait adds, so I click the adds and if the throw a pop-up I report them to my anti-virus as mallware sites; most of the are listed on Facebook with the "Sponsored Site" tag so I'm suspicious that reporting them to Facebook would be futile.

      --
      Apocalypse Cancelled, Sorry, No Ticket Refunds
    2. Re:CNN by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I've found most of the "alt-right" fake news sites all seem to have the same click-bait adds

      Buzzfeed is an alt-right website?!

  30. Doing exactly the same as china by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yes, they're a private organization, but still must follow the law. If they're censoring any content, then they're responsible for all of the content.

  31. Conservatives and Fact Checking by Sir_Eptishous · · Score: 2

    I've been around a while, voted in several elections and have been an avid consumer of news, current events and history since I was in grammar school.
    If there is one thing I've noticed down through the years, it is that Conservatives(and especially alt-right/tea party types) really don't like fact checking.

    They will use any number of rhetorical ploys, misdirection, hyperbole, etc to "blur" and obfuscate the facts.
    In my experience I have noticed that as soon as the word "fact" gets brought up in a conversation, whether on or offline, conservatives start to squirm and almost universally have an instant gut reaction of disdain. They equate "facts" as something that those liberal elite scientist/academia types use to rationally take apart their ill conceived FB memes. This is strange to me, because I would assume that someone with a very passionate opinion about something would want things fact checked and corroborated.

    Now this behavior is not universal with conservatives, as I know a guy who is a conservative, is very bright, and we are actually friends, though we disagree on politics. When we are around each other we calmly discuss our differences regarding politics, but it never gets heated or personal. He is all about facts and following an empirical method, etc;

    Another Example:
    I have a co-worker who has a degree in meteorology, and worked at a climate center at a major university. He is also a conservative Republican that would agree with most statements and opinions put out by Republicans, especially on social issues. One day at work we were discussing the weather as we always do, how it is warmer now than it was 10 or 20 years ago(the discussion was purely anecdotal, we weren't pulling up NOAA data). Someone then asked "what do you think about climate change? Is it real? Is it caused by people?" His answer didn't surprise me, because I know how smart this guy is. He said "climate change is completely backed up by the facts and the scientific evidence, and yes, it is very likely that the carbon put into the atmosphere is the cause". Then he went on to couch all that he had said in apolitical back-peddling sort of self-editing, so as not to offend those in earshot who are of the anti-fact mindset(which I found very humorous!)

    Keep in mind this is just an example, but one that shows that not all conservatives are anti-fact, or anti-empirical-method or anti-corroboration.
    Just most of them.

    --
    We play the game with the bravery of being out of range
    1. Re:Conservatives and Fact Checking by MightyMartian · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I think there are a great many conservatives who are not fact-free lunatics and morons, but the tribalism that is taking over politics in the Westerns world means that they, like their counterparts on the left who might hold some fiscally conservative views, have to sublimate that to retain their membership in the club.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    2. Re:Conservatives and Fact Checking by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm liberal. My politics lean left.

      The left is just as averse to fact-checking as the right. They too are very willing and able to use rhetorical ploys, misdirection, hyperbole, etc to blur and obfuscate facts.

      For example they like to use personal anecdotes as if they were factual evidence of something. ;)

    3. Re:Conservatives and Fact Checking by ADRA · · Score: 1

      Wear your star. Really, what's the harm?

      (ugh that joke is low, even for me...)

      --
      Bye!
  32. You agreed this by signing up... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You agreed to this stuff by signing up. A TOS is a contract, and FB has rights to do whatever they feel like. If they choose to ban people because they are redheads and post stories about how evil redheads are because the FSM said so, and mark them as "truth", it is well in their rights to do so.

    1. Re:You agreed this by signing up... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Joke's on you jackass I don't use Failbook because I'm not a mouth-breathing idiot like apparently YOU are, and I also don't want Zuckerbergs' cock up my ass, like apparently YOU do. Please have yourself sterilized so you don't pass on your clearly defective genes to another generation, we don't need any more of your kind cluttering up the planet with your nonsense and faggotry.

    2. Re:You agreed this by signing up... by MightyMartian · · Score: 1

      Yes, it's obvious you're not a mouth breathing idiot, as that would still require a functional hindbrain, and I don't think you have even that much neural capacity.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    3. Re:You agreed this by signing up... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And you voluntarily continuing to use Facebook makes you above-average intelligence? LOL, my sides are splitting, I'm laughing so hard!

    4. Re:You agreed this by signing up... by CaptainDork · · Score: 1

      You use Facebook.

      --
      It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
    5. Re:You agreed this by signing up... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He thinks I use Failbook

      LOL, no.

  33. it's uncanny by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How a tiny stuck-in-the-90's textwall site about urban myths suddenly lands a huge role with facebook after "fact checking" the election on behalf of the DNC

  34. Check this by fulldecent · · Score: 1

    After read the fact checking of Trump debate comments on various websites, all I can say is woah.

    So, woah.

    --

    -- I was raised on the command line, bitch

  35. People choose their facts by RhettLivingston · · Score: 2

    Wasted effort.

    I recently stumbled on this article from 2014 that really nails the source of our recent issues and explains why even if all of our news perfectly matched the facts we'd still have the same disagreements. Just get past your reactions to the title and read the contents.

    Humans are poor reasoners. We can talk ourselves into any position, often looking at the same facts as those with an opposite position and especially when identifying with a group that holds positions.

    The only way past the bias is education directed toward how to think as opposed to what are the facts. That will never happen because all sides of the system thrive on this human vulnerability.

  36. Perhaps this will encourage a more skeptical eye. by trudyscousin · · Score: 1

    Nothing says "I'm incapable of critical thought" quite like having the fake news one impulsively forwarded labelled as shown in the accompanying story.

    I'm pretty sure there's no stigma for that kind of shaming. Yet.

    --
    Those who can, do. Those who can't, write technology blogs.
  37. Lies, Damn Lies, and Politics by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Great, using Snopes. I have caught Snopes in lies myself, having been at something that they declare to be a hoax, when it happened right in front of my eyes.

  38. SJW and hero teams by AHuxley · · Score: 0

    Welcome to China or some monarchy or theocracy.
    Any gov can offer users the ability to be censored, reported for blasphemy and banned back in their own nations for free.
    No freedom of speech, freedom after speech. Teams of SJW looking over your comments and links with the need to be a hero.
    Time to support new US sites that allow freedom of speech, after speech and allows the free flow of information without SWJ teams.
    What will main stream social media look like? Media releases by gov's, technocrats, bureaucrats, think tanks, political parties, their staff, celebrities, cults and faiths? Safe and very boring.
    All patrolled by SJW teams who get points for banning accounts and users? The best and brightest will seek out better sites and tell all their fun friends to follow them.
    The harder SJW work to ban links and users the more people will have fun and enjoy the freedoms of competing US sites.
    Anyone can get censored and banned globally by a gov or faith. Been censored and banned does not trend well.
    The freedom to comment, think, enjoy, have fun will sell. The USA has something unique, support and sell freedom to the world.

    --
    Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    1. Re:SJW and hero teams by MightyMartian · · Score: 1

      I doubt Facebook is going to lose much sleep over losing a few angry Nazis.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    2. Re:SJW and hero teams by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      Wait for the fun when the SJW hero teams get tasked with reporting blasphemy, cartoons that are a gateway to atheism, deformation of a monarchy or anything that is not part of a US university safe space.
      Speech that counters a Communist party who have a funded western social media via investors and front companies?
      A theocracy or Kingdom that as a part of a Western social media company wants their faith based or cult's teachings to be fully protected.
      As part owners don't they get a say too? The role of the Communist party or countering blasphemy is of national impotence to them.
      Will the SJW teams be happy to take down Tank Man https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... and report terms surrounding Tiananmen Square https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/..., or any mention of 1989 every year?
      Remove, ban and report cartoons that are profane, sacrilegious and report anyone who looked at them?
      Images of humans? What about the way US university safe spaces issues are trending? Some authors and their books are not allowed to be mentioned due to religious or historical sensitivities?
      Freedom supporting sites will be fun and attract users from around the world as they support freedom after speech.
      Sites that allow SJW to ban news, art, culture, history, authors, books, movies, cartoons will become boring government and celebrity media release portals.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
  39. Who cares? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Facebook is not a source of news.

    It is a source of opinions, rants, bragging & marketing. Which is why I don't bother with it. Perhaps also a source of cute kittens & cookie recipes. But not a news site - certainly not.

  40. Parental Advisory Label by istartedi · · Score: 1

    Worked for records. /sarc.

    --
    For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
  41. Just stop calling it "NEWS" by jtara · · Score: 2

    Facebook has no news. Just BS and trivia posted by members to keep themselves amused and acquire some sort of brownie points from their friends who keep themselves amused by posting BS and trivia.

    Facebook needs to realize that they have no role in disseminating news. Their users are not reporters, not even "iReporters" or whatnot. They are just you and me (well, not ME, smart enough not to have Facebook...) giving our opinions and our filtered, inaccurate interpretation of whatever real new sources we may still pay attention to, along with made-up BS and links to made-up BS.

    And the occasional accidental link to real news. I suppose for the benefit of those that refuse to pay any attention to real news any more, and prefer to have it filtered and summarized by their so-called friends (all thousands of them!)

    1. Re:Just stop calling it "NEWS" by DarthVain · · Score: 1

      My girlfriend does this all the time. It drives me nuts.

      She'll read something (that is obviously false) and ask me about it. My first response is usually "Did you read that on Facebook?"

      Not even talking about political BS (though there is plenty of that). Mostly ridiculous health claims. Not to mention all the easy quizzes and BS that are essentially the chain emails of the 1990's where people have figured out a way to make money on them.

      As it is I sleep with a fucking bar of soap at the bottom of my bed for some stupid reason. Saw one today where a bunch of girls I know were talking about trying the onion in the sock. Really? These are supposed to be rational intelligent people I know. Ugh.

  42. Political Censorship by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yes, that's what's this is all about. Here's where FB is headed: Anything to the "Right" will be deemed fake news and anything to the "Left "will be deemed as wholesome "real" news. Don't you love it that one of their "fact checking" sources is Snopes? . Any idiot that thinks "fake news" can be deduced by algorithm needs to have their head examined. Why, I'll be FB could consider all stories by New York Times as being legit as they are "the paper of record" (well, they used to be). The more FB goes down this rabbit hole, the greater the opportunity for other social media startups intent on freedom of speech

  43. who watches the watchers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    so when a story is skewed to the left (for example) but the fact checker is skewed right and decides that this story is fake, who verifies this?
    There is a lot of gray area here that's pretty open to interpretation.

    A "Climate change isn't real" story might be called fake by 1 person but real by another. Who decides?

  44. Who will Fact Check The Fact Checkers...? by Tulsa_Time · · Score: 0

    This might be an infinitely recursive problem.

    --
    5 out of 6 people enjoy Russian Roulette & 6 out of 7 Dwarfs are not Happy
  45. What could you possibly have against them? by UpnAtom · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Whilst no fact-checking service is perfect. ... why is having them annotate what is 99.9% likely to be fake news worse than freely allowing bullshit to pervert democracy?

    1. Re:What could you possibly have against them? by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Fake news?

      "Sniper fire in Bosnia"
      "Vast Right wing conspiracy" (monica)
      "I did not send or receive any classified emails"

      But somehow, we're supposed to believe IT WAS THE RUSSIANS!!!!!!

      --
      Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
    2. Re:What could you possibly have against them? by UpnAtom · · Score: 1

      Made up headlines or whatever this is... means nothing.

      Secondly, you seem to think that FB's filters won't apply to more mainstream sources. Why?

    3. Re:What could you possibly have against them? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ... why is having them annotate what is 99.9% likely to be fake news worse than freely allowing bullshit to pervert democracy?

      Inherent bias.

    4. Re:What could you possibly have against them? by aristotheron · · Score: 0

      It's not a few pieces of "bullshit" floating around that is perverting democracy.

      It's the purposeful mis-education of the masses.

      The elephant in the room that no one is mentioning anywhere, because it is so forbidden to say, is that the public is literally stunted in their mental growth. In other words, they are stupid. They are likely to believe things they here without any rational analysis. They are used to believing things they hear because of the pressure to fit into a competitive society. They don't have the ability to analyze things under this kind of pressure.

      It used to be that this all worked fine because the media was under tight control. The vast majority of what people would hear through "official-seeming" sources would be nothing other than the official narrative. Now, with the internet being everywhere, forces other than the establishment are able to have a say also.

      The beer-hall talk of days past is now being broadcast, and it is causing problems for the establishment.
      And it isn't all 'drunken nonsense'. It's rooted in people's experience, and that enough is some justification for it to be called true.

      Advocating for anyone to have a license to decide for everyone what is true and what is not is utter insanity.
      Being tempted to jump to a conclusion because it seems like "it would be for the best" is not an excuse.
      In life you often have to choose between strength and death, though in the modern world death seems suspended forever.
      This is one of those choices, and in this case, death is not that far off.
      Freedom is at stake here. If it falls now it may never rise again.

    5. Re:What could you possibly have against them? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Stop pretending this is about fake news. It's about liberals wanting to censor all dissenting opinions.

    6. Re:What could you possibly have against them? by UpnAtom · · Score: 2

      Stop pretending this is about liberals wanting to censor all dissenting opinions. It's about fake news.

      And if factcheckers call your beliefs BS, it's because they are.

    7. Re:What could you possibly have against them? by marquisdepolis · · Score: 1

      Fake news. All politicians lie or obfuscate, but how much they lie actually matters. e.g.,

      "Climate change was a conspiracy created by the Russians"
      "Mexicans are sending over rapists"
      "I'll drain the swamp ... by appointing Goldman Sachs bankers and Exxon CEO to my cabinet"
      "We have to be careful of voters in "those parts" of Pennsylvania"
      "3-4 million people voted illegally, otherwise I would've won the popular vote"
      "Liberal media conspiracy" ... ... ...
      Repeat 1000x

    8. Re:What could you possibly have against them? by guruevi · · Score: 1

      Or the fact checkers are either biased or in on it.

      You should be very careful about people that say they have the 'truth' or 'facts' about anything. Whether you call them fact-checkers or censors, the result remains the same.

      --
      Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
    9. Re:What could you possibly have against them? by UpnAtom · · Score: 1

      >Or the fact checkers are either biased or in on it.

      Or they're not, having established credibility on factchecking over many years.

      As I said to the other guy, if factcheckers call your beliefs BS, it's because they are.

    10. Re:What could you possibly have against them? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Let's run these down.

      Climate change is a Russian conspiracy:
          Haven't heard that one. So no opinion. Sounds dumb though.

      Mexicans and Rapists: There have been rapists among the many millions of immigrants. So not a lie. Also not really relevant, as immigrants, even those from Latin America are much less likely to commit violent crimes than other people of similar economic means. What are you gonna do? Anti-immigration guy is gonna say anti-immigration stuff. Maybe if we had gone with Bush's immigration reform plan that would have let a lot more legal immigrants come to America we wouldn't have to put up with this drivel.

      Appointing Goldman Sachs and Exxon guys: Obama's first administration was full of wall street guys, particularly Goldman guys. So complaining about one guy from Goldman seems weird. And the CEO of Exxon is about as far from "Politics as usual" as you can get. Bringing in a guy who has to sign his company's financial statements and risks serious prison time if there is anything wrong in those statements is arguably a good way to go about draining the swamp. It doesn't mean he's gonna be any good, but you can't argue with his talent and business success.

      Pennsylvania voters.... so, he didn't need to be careful about "those parts" of Pennsylvania? Hillary's team didn't have maps of areas of the country that were important to her electoral college strategy?

      illegal votes swayed the popular vote:
            Some obscure professor made the claim. He repeated it because it agrees with his world view. Not possible to verify or deny and not signifying anything.... so not worth arguing over. It is a stupid bar-bet style argument, even dumber than crowing about winning the popular vote. But not a lie.

      "Liberal media conspiracy":
          Well, this one was proven true by the DNC document leaks and the Podesta emails. Not only were many of the biggest media outlets openly conspiring with the DNC and the Clinton campaign to get Hillary elected, they conspired to throw the Republican primary to Trump or Cruz, because they thought they'd be easy to beat, and they conspired to discredit Rand Paul, Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush, because they thought they'd be hard to beat. All you have to do is be able to read to know this. All of the original source documents are available on the web.

      Or you could repeat the HuffPo talking points ad nauseum and keep yourself deluded that your team isn't a bunch of corrupt and evil corporatists. Because pointing fingers at the Orange One feels so much better than looking around you and seeing that maybe you've chosen to blindly follow the team that is even worse than the unforgivably idiotic narcissist.

    11. Re:What could you possibly have against them? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > And if factcheckers call your beliefs BS, it's because they are.

      Just like politically controlled Chinese fact checkers say Taiwan does not exist? Or FDA "fact checkers", with funding from candidates in tobacco growing districts, called "BS" on the growing direct evidence of cancer from tobacco?

      Yeah, an empaneled body *must* be right.

    12. Re:What could you possibly have against them? by strikethree · · Score: 2

      Whilst no fact-checking service is perfect. ...

      These words triggered thought...

      I was wondering what a "fact checking" service would be. Just some person wandering around looking at something that may be important to know about and then digging in to see if it is real?

      Isn't that exactly what a fucking a journalist is supposed to be?

      Perhaps I am missing something here but why should this "fact checking service" be any more reliable than the journalists that are already lying to us?

      --
      "Someone needs to talk to the tree of liberty about its ghoulish drinking problem." by ohnocitizen
    13. Re:What could you possibly have against them? by guruevi · · Score: 1

      And as we have learned, credibility is largely dependent on who a person or group trusts.

      Breitbart, Infowars, Fox News on one end and CNN, Salon and HuffPo are all 'credible' news sources to many people, yet I wouldn't trust any of them to fact-check anything, we've learned how well either of those avenues went last election. Snopes and Politifact are similarly plagued with past credibility or at least bias issues.

      Again, do your own "fact" checking and if it seems like both sides are screaming opposite 'facts', then you know it's probably neither.

      --
      Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
    14. Re:What could you possibly have against them? by UpnAtom · · Score: 1

      I mean factcheckers in the literal sense.

    15. Re:What could you possibly have against them? by Rakarra · · Score: 1

      "Vast Right wing conspiracy" (monica)

      Well. There was a vast right wing conspiracy. That at least was true. But they were pretty open about it, which doesn't make it much of a conspiracy.

    16. Re:What could you possibly have against them? by Rakarra · · Score: 1

      Or the fact checkers are either biased or in on it.

      We live in a "post-truth" society now. I've seen both sides blatantly trumpeting easily-checked lies, then attacking the fact checkers for not being on their side.

    17. Re: What could you possibly have against them? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, it probably just means that one side is wrong

    18. Re:What could you possibly have against them? by UpnAtom · · Score: 1

      Credible people tend to establish their credibility over time. Journalists establish journalistic credibility and factcheckers establish factchecking credibility.

      Journalists have to sex-up the facts -- turn them into a story. Nevertheless, in my opinion, some journalists are very accurate except when it comes to politics...

      Factcheckers do nothing other than check facts. Even journalistic embellishment is frowned upon.

      In the UK, factcheckers have a great reputation: Full Fact, Channel 4 and the BBC to some degree. In the US, some fake one were set up. :/

    19. Re:What could you possibly have against them? by UpnAtom · · Score: 1

      Puttomg Snopes and Politifact in the same category as Fox & HuffPo undermines your point.

  46. Slashdotters too. :( by UpnAtom · · Score: 1

    It's notable that the currently highest rated comments on here don't seem to like fact checking either. What has happened to the Slashdot moderator base?

  47. Snopes obviously has Democratic Party bias by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    When given a random opinion-based question, Snopes will almost without fail fall on the side of D-party policy preferences.

  48. How Will They Know? by BECoole · · Score: 1

    How will they know what is a fake news story and what is breaking news unless they do at least as much research as the author?

  49. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 1

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  50. No, it's much worse than that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It;s complaining that the newspaper won't print your letter of lies and bullshit and demanding that the newspaper editor be forced to print it.

    THERE ***IS*** AN OBJECTIVE REALITY.

    If there isn't, then you can't be living in the USA, since that would have to be an objective reality! And you'd not be being banned,since that would require objective reality as well.

    Really, news stories should be about reality, not fake shit. If you misinform the voters, then you are destroying democracy, because democracy needs informed voters in the same way as free markets require informed customers.

  51. Glad I gave the middle finger to them by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I gave Facebook the Middle finger a long time ago. I never bother to signup with them not Twitter. I won't either. No use for them - they are run by Joseph Goebbles anyway. If people were smart they would delete all their stuff on Facebook (not like you can permanently delete it anyway) and close their accounts.

    Just say no to Facebook and Twitter!

  52. No Nipples, But Homicide OK by Baby+Duck · · Score: 1

    And yet flagging non-fictional snuff videos does nothing. They promptly reply it's not against Community Standard. AKA, there are No Standards. Except a female human nipple.

    --

    "Love heals scars love left." -- Henry Rollins

  53. Jen Bear:3 needs views by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    https://youtube.com/watch?v=YzGDSCcPhCA

  54. Hyperbole aside, there are real fraudsters... by Ranbot · · Score: 1

    Seemingly lost in the hyperbolic arguments above is that fake news websites phishing for clicks and ad revenue are a very real thing and if you haven't heard then you're just not paying attention... here's Fox News talking about it: http://video.foxnews.com/v/521... The original Slate article focuses heavily on the more controversial 3rd-party fact-checking so many arguing about, but this Wired article on Facebook's policy has a slightly different emphasis. https://www.wired.com/2016/12/... Most noteably Wired gives more details in how Facebook says they will check the source domains of articles to see if they are traceable to fake or spoofed websites and ultimately attempt to deincentivize fake news creators by hitting them in their ad revenue/pocketbooks. Facebook is trying to reduce the effect of fraudsters who are well documented by left and right leaning news sources. Rational people would keep the argument focused there.

    It's disheartening to read the hyperbole, misdirection, and insults through this discussion on both sides. I've been less impressed with the contributions to Slashdot over the last year and this discussion is a new low for me.

  55. Wrong! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Politifact has a left leaning bias! Plain and simple.

  56. Alleged inherent bias... by UpnAtom · · Score: 1

    ... is worse than a big chunk of your electorate being misinformed?

  57. not actually about fake news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This isn't about fake news, the left is upset that the right was able to sway public opinion via sites like Facebook with news; real and fake. Normally, the left is able to control the mainstream media and the message. In the case of Facebook they failed miserably, and they're taking Zuckerberg to task for it. Now he is providing them with a way to control that message in the near future so this doesn't happen again. The left believes they lost the election only because they didn't have complete ironclad control on the public message. They might be right.

  58. Curious by nehumanuscrede · · Score: 1

    If they're removing all the stories about Russia hacking the Election or not.

    Seeing as not one bit of evidence has been produced to back the story up, I would have to put it directly into the " Fake News " category until proven otherwise.

    Of course, that won't sit well with Team Democrat now will it . . . .

  59. Some quotes... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    “Understanding is a three edged sword: your side, their side, and the truth.”

    "You know, it's funny, I was thinking about what you said, that the preeminent truth of our age is that you cannot fight the system. But if, as you say, the truth is fluid, that the truth is subjective, then maybe you can fight the system. As long as just one person refuses to be broken, refuses to bow down. "

      "You can't kill the truth. Actually, you can kill the truth but it alway comes back to haunt you. "

    Gandhi

  60. Snopes and Politifact? by Chas · · Score: 2

    So, essentially arms of the Democratic news machine are being used to determine "fake news".

    Never mind that BOTH organizations have been cause in their OWN fake news scandals, and in alarming displays of partisanship.

    Yeah. Fuck that noise.

    --


    Chas - The one, the only.
    THANK GOD!!!
  61. Narrative Checkers, not "Fact Checkers" by sethstorm · · Score: 1

    Facebook isn't fact checking, they're narrative checking to make sure it's leftist-approved.

    Like Twitter's Ministry of Truth and Safety, its job will only consist of protecting leftism - as they have failed to pick anyone that is anything but a hard leftist.

    --
    Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
  62. "Fake news" = "the truth" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Or anything the 'mainstream' media don't want you to know about. It's getting laughable now, and that's because the powers that be have lost control of the flow of information to their 'slaves', because the internet allows people CHOICE, something they don't want you to have.

  63. Belief by DarthVain · · Score: 1

    People believe what they want to. You can find this on both the left and the right. I'd argue it is a bit more prevent on the right for a whole host of reasons. They tend to be less educated for one. The demographic is much older also (more set in their ways if you will). They tend to be more religious, which has at it's core a strong tendency of belief without proof. Generally speaking the ideology to simple concepts is strong. So as you say "most of them". I'd say another reason is simply blind self interest, which is not so much about not believing, and more about not caring and towing the party line because it aligns more with more less your fiscal situation.

    As you also mention, not all fall within this group. Along the same lines as your story, I had a political conversation with an individual who is an engineer, who was young, who I would also consider pretty bright. He was also pretty right of the political spectrum. My argument at the time with him was that he was voting against his best interests, in that he had a well paying unionized job, yet he was voting for someone who was anti-union who had a history of breaking unions. He didn't believe me. Said their was zero proof of that, and that he was very pro-union. I was incredulous, I mean to me it was such a very obvious thing. However I came to the conclusion that it wasn't totally his fault. He just wasn't all *that* interested in politics, hadn't really followed it much in the past, thus was lacking a lot of history to draw upon. Like the thread topic and summary, he bought into the "fake news" being pushed out by the political party, and took at face value what they say as being true, words VS actions so to speak. Anyway I tried to tell him about the various real life examples where the right had actively broke unions, but I'm afraid it probably fell on deaf ears and he likely voted right anyway. At that point he had already bought into the hype.

  64. New Facebook Ad Campaign by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Facebook. Fair and Balanced. Just like Fox News!

  65. No it is NOT! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Fact. The fake stories about Russia "hacking the election" are not being stopped. The election was not hacked. NO voting was suppressed, falsified, replaced, or tampered with. The only story is that the truth of the DNC and the Clinton's crimes were released by hacked E-Mail servers.

    But the election and the process was NEVER "hacked'. Yet FUCKBook keeps ejaculating the same as the rest of the sorry arse liberal media.

  66. George Soros is behind this & Snopes... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    See subject: He's a puppetmaster globalist (that literally wants the USA to be gone & other constitutional republics too that robbed his own jew people in Hitler's Nazi regime - he'd do it to you too then imo, US Citizens) for starters.

    Soros doesn't want Alex Jones' InfoWars telling us what he sees which has valid backing behind it. Snopes is Soros tool here.

    Alex Jones is merely the reporter of it on his site and in videos he makes. I haven't seen anything on this videos that's not backed by other reputable sources or literal videos of those he makes infowars videos about.

    * This is an assault on our constitutional rights of freedom of speech & press, for sure.

    (Look who's behind it - tells you everything)

    APK

    P.S.=> Soros also backed Hillary Clinton & BLM so & you can check Soros' involvement in this yourselves to verify it - I don't like it... apk

  67. Re:Selective Memory at work :-) by herbierobinson · · Score: 1

    I certainly had never heard of it, which means it wasn't making the rounds on the liberal fundraising spam. And they will repeat just about every whacko alt-right theory they can find a link for to scare people into giving them money...

    --
    An engineer who ran for Congress. http://herbrobinson.us
  68. Russian Trolls by herbierobinson · · Score: 1

    I wonder how many of the posts on this article were made by paid Russian trolls?

    --
    An engineer who ran for Congress. http://herbrobinson.us