Jan 02 Column: 10 ways the tech industry and the media helped create President Trump By Damian Radcliffe, University of Oregon Three weeks after Donald Trump won a historic victory to become the 45th president of the United States, the media postmortems continue. In particular, the role played by the media and technology industries is coming under heavy scrutiny in the… Continue reading
Dec 15 Watch 7:09 Will new tools help Facebook users get the facts on fake news? By PBS News Hour During the last three months of the campaign, fake news headlines drew more engagement than real reporting, and social media platforms were criticized for not doing enough to dispute false information. Now Facebook is launching new tools to help identify… Continue watching
Dec 15 Facebook unveils plan to flag fake news stories By Courtney Norris A drop-down menu will now allow users to report Facebook content as a “fake news story.”… Continue reading
Dec 14 Watch 8:48 News Wrap: Silicon Valley comes to Trump Tower By PBS News Hour In our news wrap Wednesday, President-elect Donald Trump met with leaders of tech giants like Amazon, Google and Facebook, saying he will personally be there for them. During the campaign, he chastised the industry for sending jobs overseas. Also, short-term… Continue watching
Dec 08 Watch 2:48 The ‘thin legitimacy’ of social media as a news source By PBS News Hour Due to the proliferation of social media, getting people to read serious journalism is harder than ever, says New York University professor Jay Rosen. Anyone with a smartphone can produce content, and Facebook doesn’t have an editor in chief --… Continue watching
Dec 05 The very real consequences of fake news stories and why your brain can’t ignore them By Nsikan Akpan Incidents like the #Pizzagate shooting signify one step in a long, dark trail of real world consequences caused by fake news. Experts explain this history and why these stories are so hard to ignore. Continue reading
Nov 19 Zuckerberg says Facebook plans to crack down on fake news By Kamala Kelkar Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg released a statement on how his company is working to mitigate fake news. Continue reading
Nov 17 Watch 7:06 How online hoaxes and fake news played a role in the election By PBS News Hour Tech giants like Google and Facebook face mounting criticism over whether they used insufficient discretion in weeding out fake news. A Buzzfeed analysis found that false stories generated more engagement than content from real news sites in the three months… Continue watching
Nov 15 Facebook, Google take aim at fake news by blocking ad revenue By Ryan Connelly Holmes Facebook and Google banned fake news sites from collecting funds via their advertising networks on Monday. Continue reading
Oct 28 Sex offender’s challenge to Facebook ban to go before Supreme Court By Associated Press The justices on Friday agreed to review a North Carolina Supreme Court ruling that upheld the law. The high court acted on an appeal from Lester Packingham, who was convicted of violating the law after maintaining a Facebook account under… Continue reading