Elon Musk To Fight Fake News, Rate Journalists' Credibility Via a Site Called 'Pravda'

Elon Musk took to Twitter today to announce his next project: a site called "Pravda" that ranks journalists' credibility and fights fake news. "Going to create a site where the public can rate the core truth of any article & track the credibility score over time of each journalist, editor & publication," tweeted Musk. "Thinking of calling it Pravda..." Musk continued: "Even if some of the public doesn't care about the credibility score, the journalists, editors & publications will. It is how they define themselves." A subsequent Twitter poll (exposed to mostly Musk followers) reveals that most people believe "this would be good."

Accredited journalist Mark Harris replied to the Tesla and SpaceX CEO with a copy of a Statement and Designation by Foreign Corporation form that names the Pravda Corp. "Er, he's not kidding folks," Harris tweeted. "I noticed that one of Musk's agents had incorporated Pravda Corp in California back in October last year. I was wondering what it was all about..."

GeekWire has catalogued a string of replies between Musk and Twitter users who are supportive/unsupportive of his plans.

Comments

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Re:So the public rates their credibility?

[Anonymous Coward]

And what's wrong with that, beyond the fact that Gamergate never succeeded in its goals of removing corruption from the gaming media? Gamergate was a reaction to a real problem - a game developer was caught literally sleeping with games journalists for coverage. That's pretty blatantly unethical.

Game companies routinely pay for coverage and the games media is incredibly corrupt. The same thing happens in the media at large, though, just with political parties paying for coverage. (Or at least attempting to - the media largely locks Republicans out in favor of Democrat cash. I'm sure you're aware of the one exception that proves the rule.)

The reality is it's past time for something like this: to shine a spotlight on the massive corruption that lurks within our media, the willingness to lie to get a story, the continued push to invent evidence to push a false narrative. The "Trump/Russia" story has entirely fallen apart at this point, but the media is still pushing it.

It's past time to start calling out - loudly and publicly - the fake media for what it is: an attempt by political and corporate actors to manipulate the public. If Elon Musk can succeed where Gamergate failed - more power to him.