[kictanet] Can Facebook fix its own bug? and what lessons for Kenya Elections 2017?

Wed May 3 09:14:33 EAT 2017

Ali et al. ,

The problem of fake news did not just start in the social media era,  the growth of online news in early 2000s prompted excess diversity of viewpoints which made it easier for like-minded citizens to form “echo chambers” where they would be insulated from contrary perspectives. Currently, anyone can publish content online with no significant  filtering, fact-checking, or editorial judgment. According to Gottfried and Shearer (2016), 62% of US adults get news on social media and unfortunately many people who see fake news stories report that they believe them (Silverman and Singer-Vine, 2016). Case in point is a research by Allcott & Gentzkow (2017) whose results showed that during the 2016 US elections, there were 115 pro-Trump fake stories that were shared on Facebook a total of 30 million times, and 41 pro-Clinton fake stories shared a total of 7.6 million times. Lets begin by asking, why do we have fake news?

a) It is cheaper to provide (and the originator makes millions from advertisers based on number of clicks make).

b) It is expensive for consumers to infer accuracy.

c)  consumers may enjoy partisan news (favouring candidates you like).

How can this issue be tackled? 

Identify and crack down on websites that specifically generate fake news (some of them have urls that resemble legitimate news sites)..this move could be lead by an independent body locally so that it is not viewed as pro-establishment.  Already, Facebook and Google are removing fake news sites from their advertising platforms, on the grounds that they violate policies against  misleading content (Wingfield et al., 2016). Facebook has taken steps to identify fake news articles, flag false articles as “disputed by 3rd party fact-checkers,” show fewer potentially false articles in users’ news feeds, and help users avoid accidentally sharing false articles by notifying them that a story is “disputed by 3rd parties” before they share it (Mosseri, 2016).

Regards,

Ronald Ojino

> On May 3, 2017, at 6:55 AM, Ali Hussein via kictanet <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
> 
> Listers
> 
> There's no doubt that Facebook has become THE News Platform that humanity relies on. The numbers are staggering. Nearly 2 billion people use Facebook every month and 1.2 billion daily. It has become a mirror of our lives. In more ways than we can imagine. 
> 
> In 2016 however, Facebook's huge influence in our lives became its biggest liability - During the U.S. election, propagandists — some working for money, others for potentially state-sponsored lulz — used the service to turn fake stories into viral sensations, like the one about Pope Francis’ endorsing Trump (he hadn’t <http://www.factcheck.org/2016/10/did-the-pope-endorse-trump/>). And fake news was only part of a larger conundrum. With its huge reach, Facebook has begun to act as the great disseminator of the larger cloud of misinformation and half-truths swirling about the rest of media. It sucks up lies from cable news and Twitter, then precisely targets each lie to the partisan bubble most receptive to it.
> 
> Locally we are seeing similar versions of the problems of the US Election being enacted. The most visible one was during the months long doctors' strike where pro and against teams were using not only Facebook but twitter and Whatsapp to spread truths, half-truths and outright lies. 
> 
> Should Facebook be held responsible for 'fact-checking' (which by the way they have already instituted certain measures to do this) and hire editors to 'police' what people post? Or is this a reflection of how society is and has nothing to do with Facebook or Social Media at large. The only problem with this is that Pre-Social Media lies and fake news usually were confined to certain social groups, parties, families etc. Today, you can be an instant famous or infamous person by a click of the button.
> 
> What can we do in Kenya and Africa in general to ensure this doesn't adversely affect our socio and cultural foundations?
> 
> Read on:-
> 
> https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/25/magazine/can-facebook-fix-its-own-worst-bug.html?_r=0 <https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/25/magazine/can-facebook-fix-its-own-worst-bug.html?_r=0>
> 
> Ali Hussein
> Principal
> Hussein & Associates
>  
> Tel: +254 713 601113
> Twitter: @AliHKassim
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> 
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