Twitter, Facebook and Google appeared before the US Congress today to explain their difficulties in identifying bots, propaganda and ‘fake news’. Fortunately, others do not seem to have the same difficulties. The latest addition to the plug-in collection is an extension for Google Chrome which monitors accounts for bot-like behavior and propaganda and then flags…
Journalist Maggie Farley has created an online game to test people’s ability to detect fake news. In each round of Facticious, stories are posted, initially, without the source and you are asked to swipe or check a box to whether you think the story is true or not. The stories tend to be odd stories…
Since the 2016 election, a number of browser plugins have been developed by various groups to help you avoid bad or misleading news. Although fake news became a prominent issue following the election of Donald Trump, tools to separate good from bad news sources is long overdue. None of these will actually fact check stories…
Since ‘fake news’ became a serious issue during and after the 2016 US presidential elections, a variety of measures have been taken to try and counter it. Sites like Google and Facebook are attempting to flag stories that are incorrect or in dispute. A variety of tools have been created by journalists to help people…
Hank Green of Vlogbrothers with a great take on the dreaded mainstream media (MSM) and the backlash against experts in general. Media and government certainly share the blame but really, it’s our fault if the media is going downhill. The media, for the most part, gives us what we want because they have to in…
Fake news played a role in the outcome of Brexit and the US election. It is being used as a propaganda tool throughout Europe and promoters of fake news are attempting to influence the French election specifically. It is also being used in an attempt to influence elections in Africa and was recently blamed for a decline in…
Fox News is rapidly becoming the network of racists and sexual predators. Every day new allegations of harassment, intimidation and abuse are coming to light. These are periodically followed by multi-million dollar court settlements and occasionally someone else gets fired. The supposedly ‘fair and balanced’ Fox rose to prominence during the Rush Limbaugh right wing…
Photo credit: DonkeyHotey via Visual Hunt / CC BY-SA People waiting for the GOP controlled congress to act against Donald Trump are probably in for a long wait. The treasonous acts which Trump administration officials are suspected of are what is holding the Republican party together and the Republican base still strongly supports the Trump administration.…
The modern main stream media is awash in rumors and fake news. I’ve heard quite a few old media news people refer to blogs and bloggers as ‘parasitic’. The argument goes something like ‘we create the news and they borrow it and rehash it and take traffic away from us’. However, this video from Epipheo…
The modern main stream media is awash in rumors and fake news. I’ve heard quite a few old media news people refer to blogs and bloggers as ‘parasitic’. The argument goes something like ‘we create the news and they borrow it and rehash it and take traffic away from us’. However, this video from Epipheo…
