[ad_1] In a statement to Reuters, Facebook didn’t outright object to the law but did worry about the potential to abuse this law. “We hope the Singapore government’s assurances that it will not impact free expression will lead to a measured and transparent approach to implementation,” a spokesman said. The law has drawn concerns over […]
Category: misinformation
Facebook just lost its last fact-checker in the Netherlands
[ad_1] The problem started when NU.nl labeled an ad from Dutch politician Esther de Lange as false, saying it couldn’t be verified. Facebook then stepped in, telling the newspaper that a politician’s speech could not be fact-checked. Facts are not a form of activism. While Facebook’s advertising guidelines don’t allow misinformation, it formally exempted politicians […]
Facebook may restrict highly targeted political ads
[ad_1] A spokesman didn’t confirm or deny the claims, but did reiterate to the WSJ that Facebook was “looking at different ways [it] might refine” its stance on political ads. If the approach sounds familiar, it should. Google recently limited political ad targeting to age, gender and general location, making it difficult to manipulate specific […]
WhatsApp banned over 400,000 accounts during Brazil’s election
[ad_1] There is evidence of a likely culprit, however. A Guardian data study indicated that the “vast majority” of false info shared on WhatsApp during the election favored far-right candidate Jair Bolsonaro, with 42 percent of sampled right-wing messages containing false claims versus just 3 percent for the left-wing camp. The eventual winner was also […]
OpenAI published the tool that writes disturbingly believable fake news
[ad_1] The AI, GPT-2, was originally designed to answer questions, summarize stories and translate texts. But researchers came to fear that it could be used to pump out large volumes of misinformation. Instead, we mostly just saw it used for things like training text adventure games and writing stories about unicorns. Because the scaled back […]
Mark Zuckerberg still won’t ban ‘political’ ads from Facebook
[ad_1] He added that, while it may be easier for Facebook to “choose a different path,” it is more important to stand up for free speech and free expression. “We need to be careful about adopting more rules that can restrict what people can say,” he said. “I don’t think it’s right for politicians to […]
Hundreds of employees criticize Facebook’s political ad policies
[ad_1] In the letter, obtained by The New York Times, the employees argue that allowing misinformation to run could increase distrust in Facebook and undermine Facebook’s integrity. They recommend six ways to remedy the situation, including holding political ads to the same standards as other ads, restricting political ad targeting and clearer policies in general. […]
Facebook makes clear that posts by politicians can break ‘normal’ rules
[ad_1] Nick Clegg, Facebook’s vice president of global affairs and communications, confirmed the approach to politicians’ posts during a speech Tuesday. He said: “We have a responsibility to protect the platform from outside interference, and to make sure that when people pay us for political ads we make it as transparent as possible. But it […]
Twitter bans thousands of state-backed accounts spreading misinformation
[ad_1] This is part of Twitter’s ongoing effort to sweep state-backed misinformation accounts from the platform. In June, Twitter removed nearly 4,800 accounts with ties to the Iranian government, and in August it banned nearly 1,000 accounts managed by the Chinese state and aimed at Hong Kong protests. In addition to targeting state-backed misinformation, Twitter […]
BBC, tech giants will fight fake news with an ‘early warning system’
[ad_1] The plan also involves a joint media education campaign, shared learning (with a focus on elections) and voting information. More details are coming “at a later date,” the BBC said. The timing of the collaboration likely isn’t a coincidence. Internet giants know that the 2020 US presidential election is fast approaching, and they’re already […]