LUFTRAUSER
Banned
Hopefully all three.
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Google to start banning fake news sites from their ad network
- Thread starter kirblar
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Unknown One
Member
Less stupid fake news propaganda the better. Too bad we can't nuke Fox News out of existence.
figadapaura
Member
About fucking time. Shame it had to come to this for something to be done.
Extra Sauce
Member
How long until the Right gets their own search engine?
The conspiracy theorists are going to conspiracy theorize no matter what. There's no appeasing them
LegendofJoe
Member
KO Traveling Hobo
Member
Trump is just another stepping stone in Google's ascension to global technocratic tyranny.
Thank you, google.
Wowfunhappy
Member
Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.
brandonh83
Banned
Good. Weed that shit out.
tiredheadcrab
Member
Infowars? Please take them away.
Not saying we should. Just... I miss when they were never taken seriously.
texhnolyze
Banned
Is this worldwide? For all languages fake news sites?
This increases the pressure on Facebook to do something which is great news.
Unfortunately things like these can still seep through the main search results.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...numbers/?postshare=1601479140843651&tid=ss_tw
Unfortunately things like these can still seep through the main search results.
Googles top news link for final election results goes to a fake news site with false numbers
If you head to Google to learn the final results of the presidential election, the search engine helpfully walks through the final electoral vote tallies and number of seats won by each party in the House and Senate. Under that, Google lists some related news articles. At the top this morning, with an accompanying photo: a story arguing that Donald Trump won both the popular and electoral votes.
That's not true.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...numbers/?postshare=1601479140843651&tid=ss_tw
Un-fucking-believable...
Didn't Zuckerberg claim the site is apolitical or some shit like that? If they were, they'd ban fake news regardless of the source's political affiliations and amount.
Ziltoidia 9
Member
Who decides what is fake news?
Perfect Blue
Banned
Reality, of which there is only one.
TheBryanJZX90
Member
Judging from the posts I see on Facebook the most popular headline after "xxxx says the next Wikileaks revelation will DESTROY Clinton!" is "The Facebook/Google search result for this news item WON'T SHOW YOU these stories!" or something to that effect. I definitely think Facebook has made it easier for the right-wing bubble to solidify, but I think we're way beyond measures like this actually helping anything.
Astaleview
Banned
Lol for real how was that even a question?
Jesus Christ, so that's why my mom was insisting Trump actually won the popular vote the other day...
Ziltoidia 9
Member
Actual Journalists who do their due diligence by fact checking with he source of the information rather than the bullshit-sphere.
The story says they are just going to block the sites that hide their actual true publisher and only use legitimate sources
Rationale like this doesn't make sense. You don't show both of them so neither matters. Are there people who would actively go and look for conspiracy theories? Sure, but this isn't about them.
This sounds like a good first step. It removes the financial incentive to create news tailored to a specific audience even though that news might be completely fake. It won't stop everything from getting through, but it will be a huge blow to the cottage industry that has sprung up around creating bubbles.
Let's hope so. It shouldn't just be limited to political news, but all news that flies under the "Tales from my ass" banner.
Prior to the election, I can't count how many times I'd receive fake news articles as suggestions just because it was a topic I read up on. I'd mark that I was "No longer interested seeing stories from [fake news site]" only for the next day to have 7 more fake-news suggestions. The amount of fake news sites that was being generated was insanely high and all of them with the same news as all of the others ones I just blocked from my feed.
A welcome change but really, should have happened sooner.
A welcome change but really, should have happened sooner.
Stumpokapow
listen to the mad man
I think you should not be morally complicit in evil and so all companies should do what they can to avoid profiting off evil. Good for Google.
That being said, the assumption here is that Google withdrawing support will hurt the sites. I doubt it. I expect both that the sites will find shadier ad networks, and they'll peddle the same shit but give their users more viruses--and they'll turn to membership models. A site that literally posts fake news won't survive off donations, but a site that posts bullshit conspiracy nonsense certainly will, because the former annoys users and the latter has users hooked. Plus, donation appeals are so easy. "The man is literally suppressing the truth, help fight it".
I think the best route is not just to ban advertising, but also massively down-weight search results, and have social networking sites do the same. If you still allow people to post fake news but only show it 1/20th of the time you do now, engagement will drop like a rock and that's what actually will end the sites.
That being said, the assumption here is that Google withdrawing support will hurt the sites. I doubt it. I expect both that the sites will find shadier ad networks, and they'll peddle the same shit but give their users more viruses--and they'll turn to membership models. A site that literally posts fake news won't survive off donations, but a site that posts bullshit conspiracy nonsense certainly will, because the former annoys users and the latter has users hooked. Plus, donation appeals are so easy. "The man is literally suppressing the truth, help fight it".
I think the best route is not just to ban advertising, but also massively down-weight search results, and have social networking sites do the same. If you still allow people to post fake news but only show it 1/20th of the time you do now, engagement will drop like a rock and that's what actually will end the sites.
EatinOlives
Member
The proliferation of fabricated propaganda disguised as "news" is honestly a very scary prospect, and I'm glad that google is at least attempting to change it.
Fuck Facebook for continuing to sit with a thumb up their ass on this and many, many other things.
Fuck Facebook for continuing to sit with a thumb up their ass on this and many, many other things.
chillybright
Banned
Lol China has been banning fake news since the initiation of Internet. Step up your game western "tech giants".
Helpful sites for this topic: http://realorsatire.com/
Google Docs created by media scholars outlining fake news on Facebook: https://t.co/QQZOwqQ4BM
Google Docs created by media scholars outlining fake news on Facebook: https://t.co/QQZOwqQ4BM
DontBeThatGuy
Member
If they don't start clamping down, we're in trouble, because misinformation is rampant. So many people out there are jumping the shark, man, shits ridiculous.
davepoobond
you can't put a price on sparks
theyve already got a lot of restrictions on the sites they allow their ads display on, so stuff like this is par for the course. i would have just classified it under "scam" web sites, personally, to really inflame those kinds of web site authors
if anything its a lot more malicious than some of the other things they ban (such as simple "offensive language")
if anything its a lot more malicious than some of the other things they ban (such as simple "offensive language")
Aztechnology
Member
A good start. A little later than I would have liked, but that's the way it always works here.
John Kowalski
Banned
Why not a pagerank penalty too?
Freeza Under The Shower
Member
You know I actually got shit like that too.
The ad would say the usual: "guy learned how to make 10k a month"
and then the actual site would be "moneynews" and about Donald Trump (I clicked once to see where it lead). Didn't really see a connection there until this thread, actually.
I don't believe Google means "legitimately linked ad and site" (for now), but rather these kinds of clickbait. I got them within a well-known Dutch weather app too, so it's not as if there's any kind of limitation on them.
The ad would say the usual: "guy learned how to make 10k a month"
and then the actual site would be "moneynews" and about Donald Trump (I clicked once to see where it lead). Didn't really see a connection there until this thread, actually.
I don't believe Google means "legitimately linked ad and site" (for now), but rather these kinds of clickbait. I got them within a well-known Dutch weather app too, so it's not as if there's any kind of limitation on them.
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