Why Facebook's fake news fix is bound to fail
Sorry, Zuckerberg
The epidemic of fake news is upon us. Or so our cultural leaders have decided. It's infiltrating our social media feeds and our Google searches, planting seeds of untruth with such sway over our opinions as to alter the results of the 2016 presidential election. The horror!
I, for one, am not convinced. I'm not convinced that fake news is more of a problem today than it was five years ago, or even 50 years ago. And I'm certainly not convinced that it played a vote-moving role in the recent presidential election.
But never mind all that. The public is angry. The media is angry. And Facebook has a plan!
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Here are the basics: Stories deemed "fake" will not be removed from Facebook, but they will be "flagged," meaning a small notice will appear below them, stating they have been "disputed by third party fact-checkers." Facebook has enrolled media and nonprofit groups to do this fact checking. The first four are ABC News, PolitiFact, The Washington Post, and Snopes. If at least two decide that a story doesn't pass the smell test, that story will get the flag.
This is a clever business move by Facebook. The participants have stated they're doing this for free as a public service. But this service will help Facebook improve its algorithms, which decide what posts appear in your news feed. That algorithm, of course, is Facebook's top-secret weapon, since it's what keeps us coming back to the site day after day after day.
But despite how shrewd this moneymaking move is, it's still likely to be a disaster. Allow me to explain why.
For a lot of people who are attracted to fake news, this flag might start to look like validation. I mean, come on: People who buy actual conspiracy theories aren't going to be swayed by the fact that Facebook — or The Washington Post, for that matter — say it's not true that Mossad reptilians live in Ivanka Trump's brain. If anything, it might encourage them to trust such stories more, out of rebellion.
But perhaps more importantly, these "fact-checkers" simply can't be trusted to do the job Facebook wants them to do.
Mark Zuckerberg took pains to explain that he only wants to go after "clear hoaxes" and not target anything in the "gray area" of opinion. That's incredibly hard to do consistently well.
Fake news is attractive because public trust in the media has plummeted. Public trust in the media has plummeted in large part because many organizations suffer from worldview biases that tend to taint their coverage.
This is especially true of the organizations Facebook has picked. For example, PolitiFact has beclowned itself over and over and over again. For example, it rated as "mostly false" that premiums would rise under ObamaCare, or that "health insurance premiums are rising under ObamaCare." But, in fact, premiums are rising.
I don't think PolitiFact is evil. I don't think they're biased on purpose. That's why it's so insidious. The people are unconsciously primed to read what Camp A says under a negative light, and what Camp B says under a positive light.
I think Zuckerberg is sincere when he says he only wants to target hoaxes. And maybe that's what the people involved in this "fact-checking" enterprise will do. But it could backfire. Indeed, it could be a disaster.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry is a writer and fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. His writing has appeared at Forbes, The Atlantic, First Things, Commentary Magazine, The Daily Beast, The Federalist, Quartz, and other places. He lives in Paris with his beloved wife and daughter.
-
Today's political cartoons - May 5, 2024
Cartoons Sunday's cartoons - annoying noises, gag orders, and more
By The Week US Published
-
5 highly educational cartoons about student protests
Cartoons Artists take on apolitical camping, the National Guard, and more
By The Week US Published
-
French schools and the scourge of teenage violence
Talking Point Gabriel Attal announces 'bold' intervention to tackle rise in violent incidents
By The Week UK Published
-
Arizona court reinstates 1864 abortion ban
Speed Read The law makes all abortions illegal in the state except to save the mother's life
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Trump, billions richer, is selling Bibles
Speed Read The former president is hawking a $60 "God Bless the USA Bible"
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
The debate about Biden's age and mental fitness
In Depth Some critics argue Biden is too old to run again. Does the argument have merit?
By Grayson Quay Published
-
How would a second Trump presidency affect Britain?
Today's Big Question Re-election of Republican frontrunner could threaten UK security, warns former head of secret service
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
'Rwanda plan is less a deterrent and more a bluff'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By The Week UK Published
-
Henry Kissinger dies aged 100: a complicated legacy?
Talking Point Top US diplomat and Nobel Peace Prize winner remembered as both foreign policy genius and war criminal
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Last updated
-
Trump’s rhetoric: a shift to 'straight-up Nazi talk'
Why everyone's talking about Would-be president's sinister language is backed by an incendiary policy agenda, say commentators
By The Week UK Published
-
More covfefe: is the world ready for a second Donald Trump presidency?
Today's Big Question Republican's re-election would be a 'nightmare' scenario for Europe, Ukraine and the West
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published