I think we’ve all experienced a time where a friend posted a
crazy, but seemingly believable video that captured our attention and we just
had to share it with others. But what is it about these videos and other
outrageous stories that suck people into sharing them? Washington Post writer
Geoffrey Fowler says fake news articles often “employ shots from real news
reports to make it seem just credible enough.” This misdirection is an attempt
to “invade our online privacy” by using spyware in some cases. The attempts are
often successful due to a lack of vetting by social media sites and encouragement
from those in our personal networks. Facebook, in particular, is working to
identify fake news with machine-learning software but ultimately believes its
role is providing context for these articles, not keep people from sharing
them. This context shows up as an alert on Facebook that additional information
is available. While this is a great concept, the system still struggles to
identify all fake news articles. For now, online users need to be vigilant when
reposting seemingly outrageous stories and videos. [1 image, 1 link, 2 quotations,
183 words].
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