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[Xando]

It seems after Clinton right wing fake news are going after Angela Merkel now:

Driving the popularity of anti-Merkel content on social media are primarily hyperpartisan and far-right groups that are trying to discredit the German chancellor ahead of this year’s election. These groups, which play a major role in helping propagate negative stories with misleading headlines, are increasingly focused on Merkel’s liberal stance on the refugee crisis. The analysis showed that these stories were among the top-performing content about Merkel on social platforms last year, both in English and German languages.
Echoing what was seen during the US election, many of these sites mix legitimate partisan political content with false and conspiratorial information, especially about refugees and Islam, in order to inspire passion and increase social engagement. Large right-wing pages in the US are also increasingly sharing anti-Merkel content, helping it gain wider distribution on Facebook.

The top-performing German-language content about Merkel includes sites like blog.halle-leaks.de, rapefugees.net, info.kopp-verlag.de, anonymousnews.ru, and noch.info.
Noch.info was one of the first sites in Germany to spread the false claim about Merkel’s selfie with a terrorist. Just last week, citing “Russian intelligence sources,” it reported that President Barack Obama was secretly meeting Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner in Hawaii. Kopp Verlag, in addition to publishing books about aliens and UFOs, has falsely reported that the government is putting refugees being welcomed in Germany on social benefits for life. In 2014, it posted an article that asked “Is Michelle Obama a trans?” claiming that the first lady is in reality a man called Michael.

Especially British right wing media is going after her:

But no other publications have been more relentless in pursuing anti-Merkel rhetoric than British tabloids like the Express, MailOnline — the most popular English-language newspaper website in the world — and, more recently, more fringe conservative news websites like Breitbart, which is already planning to launch a German version.

The Facebook accounts responsible for some of the most popular German content focus on arguments similar to the ones seen during the US presidential campaign. These include “anti-elite” and anti-Muslim rhetoric, and claim the “lügenpresse” — meaning the “lying press” — is hiding information from the public. That term, which was used by the Nazis, and then again in the East German press during the Cold War to discredit reporting in West Germany, is widely used during far-right and AfD demonstrations. As in the US, the German far-right has also begun to conflate debates about countering fake news with government attempts to censor, and argued that the lügenpresse are the ones producing fake news.

Despite an aggressive campaign to take down Merkel, there is no evidence yet to suggest that the onslaught of fake news and conspiracy theories has had an impact on Merkel and her party’s popularity within Germany. Support for her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party has been rising — the most recent polls show she is as popular at this stage as she was before the 2013 election, which she won in a landslide.

Much more at the link
https://www.buzzfeed.com/albertonardelli/hyperpartisan-sites-and-facebook-pages-are-publishing-false

 

[twobear]

Is there nothing that we (the UK) can do to stop the Mail and Express from printing this garbage? These aren't a couple of kids trying to make ad revenue from setting up outrageous news sites, these are major media companies.

 

[Garrett Hawke]

Is there nothing that we (the UK) can do to stop the Mail and Express from printing this garbage? These aren't a couple of kids trying to make ad revenue from setting up outrageous news sites, these are major media companies.

I wonder about this sometimes too. The sun/daily mail are disgusting.

 

[jelly]

Is there nothing that we (the UK) can do to stop the Mail and Express from printing this garbage? These aren't a couple of kids trying to make ad revenue from setting up outrageous news sites, these are major media companies.

Wait for old people to die. That's the only people I know who read those two papers.

If the press review after the hacking was allowed to have some balls we might have got somewhere.

The BBC is setting up a fact check to curb fake news but it doesn't include print media unfortunately.

 

[Detox]

Is there nothing that we (the UK) can do to stop the Mail and Express from printing this garbage? These aren't a couple of kids trying to make ad revenue from setting up outrageous news sites, these are major media companies.

Campaigns to stop major corporations from advertising in them.

 

[Diablos]

This is why things won't end well for net neutrality in the long run I think. Corporations want more restrictions on what you do with your ISP's bandwidth and the Government will want to put an end to false or misleading information that can do lasting and at times irreversible damage to people, institutions, ideas.

 

[twobear]

Campaigns to stop major corporations from advertising in them.

I meant more along the lines of legal repurcussions for publishing it, as there would be if they published this stuff in their print edition. My guess is that they get away with it at the moment because online content is less stringently controlled than print content.

 

[Xando]

Wait for old people to die. That's the only people I know who read those two papers.

If the press review after the hacking was allowed to have some balls we might have got somewhere.

The BBC is setting up a fact check to curb fake news but it doesn't include print media unfortunately.

Problem with fact checking is that it doesn't matter to most of these people because their media has convinced all traditional media outlets are lying on request of the goverment.

Campaigns to stop major corporations from advertising in them.

This is a good idea but i fear anything in that direction would just lead to these people complaining about freedom of press.

I meant more along the lines of legal repurcussions for publishing it, as there would be if they published this stuff in their print edition. My guess is that they get away with it at the moment because online content is less stringently controlled than print content.

German goverment announced they'll create some legislation to force facebook and other sites to curb fakenews within 24h(could also be 48h, not sure) or get fined

 

[avaya]

Not joking but the German intelligence agency's should just start clandestine operations against the Mail and co. DDoS them.

 

[sammex]

MailOnline — the most popular English-language newspaper website in the world

Holy shit. The world is in big trouble.

 

[BowieZ]

LOL @ the Breitbart headline: Merkel Diagnosed by Psychoanalyst as 'Narcissistic,' Verging on Mental Breakdown, written by a #brexit nutcase Sarkis Zeronian (who decried "the hissy-fit of the defeated #Clinton cult").

Hans-Joachim Maaz, a German psychiatrist, psychoanalyst and best-selling author, was speaking with Huffington Post Germany when he suggested a ”stubborn" Angela Merkel has ”lost touch with reality".

He claimed that Mrs. Merkel has not, in fact, taken any difficult decisions or displayed genuine leadership. In his opinion she reacts to situations rather than leads, something which testifies to her uncertainty and an underlying lack of self-worth.

The result of this, he says, is that she tends to make ”emotional" decisions which meet immediate popular approval instead of making difficult but rational moves. By way of example he cites first Mrs. Merkel policy of phasing out nuclear power after the Fukushima nuclear disaster, a decision she took knowing most Germans backed the move.

The second ”emotional" decision she took was to open Germany's borders to Syrian migrants. Although met with worldwide approval as a ”great humanitarian gesture" it was actually poorly thought through, as hindsight confirms. Now her refusal to move represents a danger to Germany.

Yeah, sure. Okay. And look at that. A subtle jab at the Syria conflict. Gee I wonder if Putin put that in himself.

God I hope Germany (along with France) gets its act together and reacts strongly and appropriately to this insidiousness.

 

[Deleted member 13876]

But no other publications have been more relentless in pursuing anti-Merkel rhetoric than British tabloids like the Express, MailOnline — the most popular English-language newspaper website in the world — and, more recently, more fringe conservative news websites like Breitbart, which is already planning to launch a German version.

Someone posted one of their articles about Merkel earlier this week on here.

 

[Sinfamy]

Spreading fake news is annoying and damaging fuck, but BuzzFeed really isn't the orbiter of journalistic excellence either.

 

[Zips]

This is why things won't end well for net neutrality in the long run I think. Corporations want more restrictions on what you do with your ISP's bandwidth and the Government will want to put an end to false or misleading information that can do lasting and at times irreversible damage to people, institutions, ideas.

Some governments might want that. I think the biggest push would actually come from governments who want to just direct you towards the information and opinions that support them. Think of Trump. Fake news etc. helped him come to power, and changing laws so that more people are funneled to the 'news' outlets that helped him by disseminating fake news or acting like outright propaganda peddlers would help Trump and those like him keep power.

It seems there is a big battle for people's minds going on right now, with control of what people use as their news sources at the center of it.

 

[Blader]

It's incredible to me that French and German voters could see Brexit and Trump happen, and then still fall into the same trap with their elections.

 

[Xando]

Spreading fake news is annoying and damaging fuck, but BuzzFeed really isn't the orbiter of journalistic excellence either.

Not sure about US Buzzfeed but Buzzfeed politics in europe is pretty decent.
They had a similiar article on how italys 5star movement is actively supported by fakenews and also spreads them.

 

[Necron]

The internet was a mistake...

or is this the result of people not wanting to pay for news? I guess John Oliver was right. Time to get a subscription for a respectable newspaper.

 

[ClosingADoor]

Can we get Google, Microsoft, Mozilla and Apple to make some sort of alert in your browser for websites that are clearly spreading lies?

The internet was a mistake...

or is this the result of people not wanting to pay for news? I guess John Oliver was right. Time to get a subscription for a respectable newspaper.

It's a bit of that. Real newspapers don't have budgets anymore to do in-depth coverage to hold politicians and companies accountable, so a ton of shit goes under the radar.

But in this case it is also that some media have a clear agenda and/or are supported by organisations and governments that want to push the public in a certain direction.

 

[oti]

Spreading fake news is annoying and damaging fuck, but BuzzFeed really isn't the orbiter of journalistic excellence either.

BuzzFeed's biggest crime as far as I know is selling a bunch of gifs as articles. Not trying to undermine democratic leaders and push their fascist agendas.

 

[Zaph]

Spreading fake news is annoying and damaging fuck, but BuzzFeed really isn't the orbiter of journalistic excellence either.

Buzzfeed has some great journalism, and a fair amout of disposable bubblegum garbage which pay the bills.

Regardless, you cannot even begin to compare that to fake news propaganda peddling, hatemongering trash like the daily mail, express and breitbart.

 

[Bitch Pudding]

The more they throw at Merkel, the stronger she becomes. Most Germans, even left-wing voters, are well aware what Merkel did and still does for our country. And we are not an ungrateful bunch of people.

Of course, we have a rising number of AfD voters and other brainless Alt-Rights (as well as "Org-Rights") sympathizers, but man, they hate "Mutti Merkel" anyway.

 

[Imp the Dimp]

It's incredible to me that French and German voters could see Brexit and Trump happen, and then still fall into the same trap with their elections.

It's virtually impossible to happen here due to how our political system is structured. With Brexit and the US election you could basically just vote either/or (parties other than Rep/Dems are irrelevant), whereas Germany does not have the "first-past-the-post system" system. You don't waste your vote by voting for smaller parties. The AFD will have to form a coalition with a major party in order to participate in ruling and no party would even remotely accept a coalition with them.

edit: Also, while Merkel will suffer from her pro-refugee-policy, she's considered an extremely strong candidate unlike any anti-Brexit representative or Hillary.

 

[Easy_D]

LOL @ the Breitbart headline: Merkel Diagnosed by Psychoanalyst as 'Narcissistic,' Verging on Mental Breakdown.



Yeah, sure. Okay. And look at that. A subtle jab at the Syria conflict. Gee I wonder if Putin put that in himself.

God I hope Germany (along with France) gets its act together and reacts strongly and appropriately to this insidiousness.

Sounds more like they are describing Trump

 

[Jotaka]

Wait for old people to die. .

It doesn't help. Because meanwhile they will brainwash the hell of younger people...

 

[Buzzman]

Rupert Murdoch and Steve Bannon are a goddamn cancer on society.

 

[Easy_D]

It doesn't help. Because meanwhile they will brainwash the hell of younger people...

Yeah. You don't wait this shit out, you have to actively push back at every turn.

Which is why shit like "He won, we get a new turn in 4-8 years" bullshit is infuriating to me, you don't sit there and wait for the problem to go away on its own.

 

[BowieZ]

Merkel should ask various other media companies to publish the exact same articles again, but substituting names and information of her rivals.

#FAKEFAKENEWS

Rupert Murdoch and Steve Bannon are a goddamn cancer on society.

I wonder if there's a paper trail that connects them. Edit: Well, I suppose Roger Ailes is the main link.

 

[RangerX]

The Daily Mail is the most popular English news site in the world? What in the absolute fuck. Its a fuckin rag of the lowest order.

 

[Easy_D]

The Daily Mail is the most popular English news site in the world? What in the absolute fuck. Its a fuckin rag of the lowest order.

What's more likely to get shared on Facebook? What's more likely to get clicks on Facebook? Yeah. And they have the gall to say they are neutral or w/e when they facilitate the spread of and make money off of fake news.

 

[RedSparrows]

The Daily Mail is the most popular English news site in the world? What in the absolute fuck. Its a fuckin rag of the lowest order.

Tit articles, celeb wank-fodder, the one-in-a-million genuinely insightful investigative article, and then streams of moral outrage and whining about how their worldview isn't allowed to be heard.

It's shameless in every single sense.

 

[Sapiens]

The next time I miss a deadline, I'm just going to blame FAKE NEWS!

 

[Fritz]

You know, I remember the outcry when Merkel once said " We are still new to the Internet". Of course context matters and back then there was a lot of discussion in Berlin and I think it was coming from Washington about the fundamental changes that the internet will bring to our society.

This whole fake news issue is part of that. Just like the invention of the printing press changed Europe forever, it's getting more and more clear that we must adapt to the internet and learn how to handle it as societies. Our generation will play a major part in this. We have to make a change.

 

[hEist]

Can we get Google, Microsoft, Mozilla and Apple to make some sort of alert in your browser for websites that are clearly spreading lies?

got this extension (B.S. Detektor) running since a couple of weeks, but I don't read or click on fake news, so can't really tell, how reliable it is.

The B.S. Detector is powered by OpenSources, a professionally curated list of unreliable or otherwise questionable sources. We no longer maintain our own dataset. Neither the B.S. Detector nor the Self Agency LLC assume liability for the accuracy of OpenSources' data. To suggest or dispute a site's inclusion, file an issue with OpenSources.

Example domain classifications (in flux) include:

Fake News: Sources that fabricate stories out of whole cloth with the intent of pranking the public.
Satire: Sources that provide humorous commentary on current events in the form of fake news.
Extreme Bias: Sources that traffic in political propaganda and gross distortions of fact.
Conspiracy Theory: Sources that are well-known promoters of kooky conspiracy theories.
Rumor Mill: Sources that traffic in rumors, innuendo, and unverified claims.
State News: Sources in repressive states operating under government sanction.
Junk Science: Sources that promote pseudoscience, metaphysics, naturalistic fallacies, and other scientifically dubious claims.
Hate Group: Sources that actively promote racism, misogyny, homophobia, and other forms of discrimination.
Clickbait: Sources that are aimed at generating online advertising revenue and rely on sensationalist headlines or eye-catching pictures.
Proceed With Caution: Sources that may be reliable but whose contents require further verification.

 

[Bitch Pudding]

edit: Also, while Merkel will suffer from her pro-refugee-policy, she's considered an extremely strong candidate unlike any anti-Brexit representative or Hillary.

Fun fact, all the other parties in Germany left of the conservative CDU/CSU are actually even more "pro-refugee" than she is. Her party for example wants to send back refugees to North African countries and Afghanistan, by declaring them safe. SPD and Green-led federal countries are still preventing this in the federal council. At the same time, CDU Interior minister Maizière announced his plans to strenghten security, which a lot of German voters approve.

So, long story short, don't worry about Germany that much. Especially the US should be more worried what Trump does to ensure he's re-elected in four years.

 

[Pomerlaw]

The more they throw at Merkel, the stronger she becomes. Most Germans, even left-wing voters, are well aware what Merkel did and still does for our country. And we are not an ungrateful bunch of people.

I read about your green energy policies. Really great stuff you guys are doing.

Cheers from Canada.

 

[Pezking]

It's incredible to me that French and German voters could see Brexit and Trump happen, and then still fall into the same trap with their elections.

Brexit was a plebiscite, which is almost always a bad idea because by nature, it favors populism.

And Trump hijacked one of two parties influential enough to win a presidency. The german equivalent would be the CDU dumping Merkel to fully embrace fascism. That won't happen.

 

[grumble]

I'd bet even odds that this, and direct state-sponsored interference, will get her to lose the election. There are people highly motivated to destroy the EU and destabilize Europe, so it can be swallowed up piecemeal and completely lose its power and damage its autonomy.

People have also gotten complacent. It's been a long time since the average person has really felt that their safety and life were threatened.

 

[Any Questions]

Am hoping that the Germans are less gullible and will see through it. In fact, I don't need to hope. I know they will.

 

[jstripes]

Not joking but the German intelligence agency's should just start clandestine operations against the Mail and co. DDoS them.

Part of Putin's long game is turning western nations against each other. That would play right into it.

 

[Killa Sasa]

I'm expecting a looooot of regulations for social media and the Internet in general to come within the next few years, at least until the tide can be stemmed on all this. It's ultimately unchecked propaganda.

Shit people ruining it for the good ones per usual but hey, some things are more important than being able to find "Shortcake has a special ingredient: BABIES" style articles.

People have also gotten complacent. It's been a long time since the average person has really felt that their safety and life were threatened.

This is exactly why damage is being done right now.

 

[Etrian Oddity]

So all of a sudden, the entire world has forgotten about the legal concepts of libel and slander?

FFS, if a publication states outright false or harmful and completely unsubstantiated allegations, take legal action on them.

 

[SpaceWolf]

I don't understand why it's Buzzfeed that seems to be picking up on these kind of stories all of a sudden.

 

[mnz]

"Deutsche Wirtschafts Nachrichten" is the most amazing one. It translates to "German Economy News", but they only picked that name so that people would share it without thinking twice.
They literally make up stories that I have seen posted all over German speaking sites.
It's incredible how effective a trick like that it.

 

[jelly]

So all of a sudden, the entire world has forgotten about the legal concepts of libel and slander?

FFS, if a publication states outright false or harmful and completely unsubstantiated allegations, take legal action on them.

They do but all that happens is a tiny retraction that nobody bothers to read.

What should happen is, they publish fake news, the retraction should be same size and font in the same page as the fake news was.

The media is out of control in the UK and slap on the wrists isn't enough to stop it. Most of the time it's fits the shit government agenda of blame someone else but them.

 

[michaelius]

It seems there is a big battle for people's minds going on right now, with control of what people use as their news sources at the center of it.

It's been going for years - but internet changed the whole game since establishment controlled media whose journalists were buddies with politicians no longer have monopoly on news.

 

[Codeblue]

Fun fact, all the other parties in Germany left of the conservative CDU/CSU is actually even more "pro-refugee" than she is. Her party for example wants to send back refugees to North African countries and Afghanistan, by declaring them safe. SPD and Green-led federal countries are still preventing this in the federal council. At the same time, CDU Interior minister Maizière announced his plans to strenghten security, which a lot of German voters approve.

So, long story short, don't worry about Germany that much. Especially the US should be more worried what Trump does to ensure he's re-elected in four years.

Hope you're right. Germany needs to be a bastion of sanity while the US and UK self destruct.

 

[CyclopsRock]

Wait for old people to die. That's the only people I know who read those two papers.

If the press review after the hacking was allowed to have some balls we might have got somewhere.

The BBC is setting up a fact check to curb fake news but it doesn't include print media unfortunately.

But then young people will be old.

Also, it's not old people that make the MailOnline the most popular newspaper website in the world.

 

[Wiseblade]

So all of a sudden, the entire world has forgotten about the legal concepts of libel and slander?

FFS, if a publication states outright false or harmful and completely unsubstantiated allegations, take legal action on them.

The problem is that Libel is printed on the front page, while the retraction is buried on page 37 next to the celebrity gossip.

 

[Frankfurter]

I'd bet even odds that this, and direct state-sponsored interference, will get her to lose the election. There are people highly motivated to destroy the EU and destabilize Europe, so it can be swallowed up piecemeal and completely lose its power and damage its autonomy.

People have also gotten complacent. It's been a long time since the average person has really felt that their safety and life were threatened.

That's a crazy bet to do.

There are basically four more or less reasonable results of the upcoming election:

1. CDU/CSU/SPD coalition stays in power, as does Merkel. By far the most likely result
2. CDU/CSU/FDP coalition. Merkel stays in power
3. SPD/Greens/Linke coalition. Merkel loses power, Germany would actually be significantly more to the left with this result.
4. CDU/CSU/Greens coalition. Merkel stays in power, Germany would be a little more to the left, but this is very unlikely.

No atleast semi-reasonable result involves the AFD and almost all of them involve CDU/CSU as the major party of a coalition.

 

[1.21Gigawatts]

Meanwhile

http://www.heute.de/politbarometer-...t-fluechtlinge-fuer-verkraftbar-46316294.html

Question: Can german handle all the refugees.
January 2016: 37% Yes, 60% No.
Now: 57% Yes, 41% No.

I attribute this change to Fake News, too.
The constant flow of apocalyptic "news" from the fake news sites just wasn't in line with what was actually happening in peoples lives(nothing) because of refugees. Add to that that more and more people have had contact with refugees in some form. There was a report on TV where they confronted a neonazi with an immigrant and after a while the nazi said "You can't hate them when you know them."
So I think after a while most people just don't take these fake news seriously anymore.