False News Travels Fast
Social media is struggling with an epidemic. Fake news spreads like a virus, with its ludicrous claims and compelling headlines. Some claim it cost Hillary Clinton the Presidency. Some say it has encouraged Britain to drastically alter it's political futures. Others think it's just a bunch of opportunists running get rich quick schemes.
In a "post-truth" world, where we've had enough of experts and can prove anything with facts; what challenges must we address in order to combat fake news? As a Skeptic community, how does this affect us?
Reading List
- Media in the Age of Algorithms - What's the Future
- Fake News - Ben Thompson
- I can't just stand by and watch Mark Zuckerberg destroy the internet
- Media Hacking
- The Huffington Post Has a Fake News Problem! - Tim O'Reilly
- Fake News is not the Only Problem
- Digital Politics: Are we trapped within our online filter bubbles? - The Guardian
- Fake News and the Internet Shell Game - The New York Times
- Facebook's evolving role in media - The Verge
- Clickbait, fake news and the power of feeling
- The problem with Facebook runs much deeper than fake news
- Stories on Ivanka Trump wanting to mace dad and porn airing on CNN show how easily fake news spreads
- Facebookâs Walled Wonderland Is Inherently Incompatible With News
- Fake news in 2016: What it is, what it wasn't, how to help - BBC News
Buzzfeed Data Analysis
- This Analysis Shows How Fake Election Stories Outperformed Real News on Facebook - Buzzfeed
- How the 2016 Election Blew Up in Facebook's Face - Buzzfeed
- Here Are 50 Of The Biggest Fake News Hits On Facebook From 2016 - BuzzFeed
- Hyperpartisan Facebook Pages Are Publishing False And Misleading Information At An Alarming Rate - BuzzFeed
- The city getting rich from fake news - BBC News
Trump's Election
- Facebookâs failure: did fake news and polarized politics get Trump elected? - The Guardian
- Adventures in the Trump Twittersphere - The New York Times
- If You're Blaming Facebook For The Election Results, You're An Idiot - Techdirt
- Hillary Clinton warns fake news can have 'real world consequences' - The Guardian
- Dissecting the #PizzaGate Conspiracy Theories - The New York Times
- Russian propaganda effort helped spread âfake newsâ during election, experts say - The Washington Post
- Purveyor of fake news says he targeted Trump supporters, influenced election
- Google's top news link for 'final election results' goes to a fake news site - The Washington Post
- Donald Trump Truth: Behind "is Truth Dead?" - Time
- Did Facebook really tolerate fake news to appease conservatives?
- Facebook fake-news writer: âI think Donald Trump is in the White House because of meâ - The Washington Post
Post-Truth
- In a post-truth election, clicks trump facts
- The Age of Post-Truth Politics - The New York Times
- When Beliefs and Facts Collide - The New York Times
- Fact-Checking Wonât Save Us From Fake News - FiveThirtyEight
- We Can Fix it - Saving Truth from the Internet
- Facebook, fake news and the meaning of truth - BBC News
- Why Facts Don't Change Our Minds - The New Yorker
Studies
- Civic Online Reasoning
- Why do we fall for fake news?
- When Self Is the Source: Effects of Media Customization on Message Processing
- How many people really get their news from Facebook?
- Pew Research Centre, News Use Across Social Media Platforms 2016
- Pew Research Centre, Many Americans Believe Fake News is Sowing Confusion
- Reuters Institute Digital News Report
- 2017 Edelman Trust Barometer
Politicians
- Fake News Inquiry - Tom Watson
- DCMS Parliamentary Inquiry
- Labour Is Promising A Long Campaign Against Fake News
- German law would fine social media sites âpublishingâ fake news - Ars Technica
- Fake News and the EU's Response
- European Commission Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology
Fixes
- Facebook Takes On Fake News
- News Feed FYI: Addressing Hoaxes and Fake News - Facebook Newsroom
- Why Facebook Can't Fix Fake News
- International Fact-Checking Network fact-checkersâ code of principles â Poynter
- Indiana University scientists create computational algorithm for fact-checking - Indiana University
- How to solve Facebook's fake news problem: experts pitch their ideas - The Guardian
- Labeling fact-check articles in Google News - Google Blog
- A New Educational Tool Against Misinformation - Facebook Newsroom
- Google acts against fake news on search engine - The Guardian
Presented At
- Glasgow Skeptics in the Pub on July 19, 2017
- Teesside Skeptics in the Pub on April 6, 2017
- York Skeptics in the Pub on March 27, 2017
- Newcastle Skeptics in the Pub on January 11, 2017