Fake News Phenomenon
 

I've been kind of fascinated by the fake news stuff that has come to light through this election cycle and how it affects how people make decisions and think about the world.

I didn't know if this was the right section for it, but I decided to make this thread after reading this story:

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-w...iracy-theories

There have literally been hundreds of these types of stories where people prefer to believe fake clickbait type "news" instead of fact checking. Simply because it fits their narrative.

Here's a story about a guy who makes fake news and why he does it:

http://www.npr.org/sections/alltechc...in-the-suburbs

So, if this is going to be an ongoing thing, and people now seem to get most of their news from Facebook and twitter, how do you combat all the misinformation that is out there...or how do you break the internet echo chamber?

I thought this might be a neat discussion to have.

People shouldn't take what they hear from social media and accept it blindly. Equal to blame as the spreaders of fake news are the people who believe it just because its the news.

The reason people fall for conspiracy theories is that they all (the good ones, anyway) are based around one nugget of truth. The nugget of truth for this pizza conspiracy is that the leaked emails did contain mentions of the word "pizza", which one could, possibly, interpret as a code word for something sneaky.

why do you think people love Fox News so much :lol:

The internet will make Florida Man of us all.

The best, and honestly the only, way to combat this sort of thing is:
http://misszoot.com/wp-content/uploa...tvigilance.png

And when someone makes a claim that seems fishy, or just too good to be true, be sure to ask:
http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocia...ion-needed.jpg

I really think that people are too lazy to fact check, personally. That and they prefer to believe things that fit their narrative. I mean, who doesn't want some kind of confirmation that what they think is right? Problem is, the internet makes it super easy for gullible people to pick and choose their facts.

I also think people tend to believe their social media friends over the big bad mainstream media so even if every legit news source out their says a fake news story is fake, people just think its a cover up conspiracy or that the media is protecting the subject.

How do you fight that? Are we doomed to live in a world where people make worl impacting decisions based on click bait?

Sadly, yes.
I mean, think of how long it took people to accept Heliocentrism, or that the world was round.

Hell, we've still got people who don't believe people have been to the Moon.

Confirmation bias.

And Plastron, you shut your damn mouth! The lizard people get angry when we insist we've been to the moon... :tshifty:

I hear the Flat-Earther movement is making a comeback, actually! Any of you guys going to join the trend?

Remember when Neil deGrasse Tyson blasted BoB with that rap? Good times. :tcool:

We live in the social media era, so no wonder such fake news have been on the rise in the last few years. People taking random tweets seriously and stuff like that.

Clickbait works, I'm afraid. And while Buzzfeed is notorious for that, it's sad how reputable media outlets resort to that tactic as well.

As for conspiracy theories, they come up because, sometimes a certain amount of people doesn't believe the facts and thus try to find different ones. All of them end up getting to a ridiculous level. See 9/11 conspiracy theories. "Jet fuel can't melt steam beams~!" and so on.

The lizard people are watching you, Prowler.

... And they are very, very unhappy with you.

Who are these lizard people and what is their main purpose? hell where do they come from? I thought the Jews and the Illuminati were behind everything, but turns out there's someone above them?!

The whole Fake News thing is getting out of hand.
http://money.cnn.com/2016/12/05/medi...ate/index.html

I talked to Kubrick yesterday and he confirmed that the moon-landing, indeed, is a hoax

And don't forget the Flat Earth Society.

The conspiracy is REAL!!1!11!!! Look at the signs sheeple and you will see!

I love these little talks.

I've been having fun as well. :P