Fake News on Facebook is The Real Thing

This article will seem out of topic and not necessarily in keeping with the non-partisan position we have taken here at Bunker 8. But we have to say that fake news on Facebook is the real thing and it needs to be dealt with, not ignored.

I am the exception as it would seem when it comes to getting my news. I consider multiple sources when it comes to compiling facts. But this article popped up in my news feed on Facebook that was a total fake, but to the non-discerning eye, could appear as completely legitimate:

Looks and feels like real news, even with the “American News” banner floating in the bottom. If you were reading this with less than a discerning eye, then you might believe it. There is a shocking number of people, 62 percent, who get their news from social media and. let’s face it, while regular news might be biased, slanted and at times inaccurate, going to social media for news is the dumpster fire solution.

So what are the major channels on the web doing about this changing dynamic? Well, for one, they have fallen silent until recently. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has refused to admit that there is any responsibility on their part to cultivate or regulate news on their part. Yet there is a group at Facebook so adamant that this is a problem that they have formed their own group internally to deal with the matter, a Facebook task force. Today, Zuckerberg and Google have promised to crack down on such a critical issue, yet, likely, the damage they caused with the US election is already done. Chief reporter admits that he does it deliberately and has become famous because of his writing style. Social media has another demon that encourages the proliferation of fake news, the echo chamber effect.With the echo chamber effect, it means that when you are connected to a vacuum of like-minded individuals and the news you receive is not bipartisan, it is totally slanted towards your “preferred mode of thinking”. When I decided to follow Donald Trump on social media, there was a massive slant of right wing jibberish being constantly sent to me, when I followed him on Facebook, my news feed became bombarded with terrible lies and propaganda. Something has to be done to bring us back to a normalcy in media. There is such a fiesta of outrage and derision that social media networks have a responsibility as the primary platform of news delivery to control that. Google does it now, Facebook and Twitter need to follow suit.