Facebook and its fake stories is a reminder that we must not depend on it for news

Facebook’s platform-publisher conundrum has been playing out online for quite some time now. But post the 2016 US Elections, there have been allegations about how the social networking giant has become a **hotbed for fake news** . Some even went to the extent of saying that Facebook may have unknowingly affected the outcome of the US Elections, which Zuckerberg termed as a ‘ **crazy idea** ’. Why is it a US problem? That social media has been playing an important role in elections is an old story. But never before have there been allegations of social media tipping the elections in any particular candidate’s favour. Sure, the impact social media has on voting patterns is significant. In the 2014 national elections, we have seen **how social media was used** by leading political parties to amplify its messaging. US Elections 2016 played out similarly across multiple platforms online. Players such as Twitter, Google and Facebook were used by both the Republican and Democrats to their advantage. [caption id=“attachment_348520” align=“aligncenter” width=“239”]  Source: Pew Research Center[/caption] The allegation that Facebook influenced election results in the US, may sound ridiculous to many of us. But one must realise that in the US, Facebook is a primary source of news for many. According to a Pew Research Centre report, around 62 percent of US adults get their news from social media. And of this, around 67 percent get it on Facebook. Now, unlike the US, in India where newspapers are still sold subsidised rates, there are over 300+ news channels running 24x7 and majority of the population is yet to get online, Facebook is far from being a primary source of news. Definitely not for the near future. Zuckerberg’s clarification Zuckerberg released a long statement on 19 November, outlining the steps Facebook is taking to curb fake news.

The key measures include having stronger detection to improve classification of misinformation; easy reporting of false news by Facebook users; verification from third-party fact-checking organisations; improving related articles links; adding warning labels to false news; denying ads to illegal news sources and more. All these sound like great measures, but there was no mention of what happens to the rapid spread of false information on Facebook by gullible users. The election season brought to fore some unknown Macedonian websites, which were alleged to have written false news which were widely shared on Facebook. Ultimately, it is the people who do the sharing. It is the people who decide the engagement levels, which prods the algorithms to kick in. How does Facebook plan on tackling that? What’s the way out? It’s quite simple, really. Stop using Facebook as your primary news source. The nomenclature ‘News Feed’ is a bit of a misnomer, as Facebook is wired to show you things based on your personal profile. So a news from a reputed news organisation, may get the same sort of priority as an opinion or rant by any of your friends around similar topic. Firstly, Facebook News Feed is not media organisation, but just an aggregator of updates from your friends, pages you have liked or personalities you have followed. Sure, you may be following a lot of legit news organisations on Facebook, but Facebook’s algorithms aren’t obligated to only show you news from these organisations. Just like every status update you put out is only seen by 10 percent of your friends or followers (unless you pay to promote it), news updates from these legit organisations will not always show up on your feed. There is a high possibility of this sort of algorithm leading to creation of echo chambers  where you may not really get to hear the other side of a debate. That is not a healthy sign. Secondly, the Facebook Trending news section is **curated by algorithms** , and not humans. So **fake news such as these** can show up on the top of trends, as the algorithms aren’t powerful enough to distinguish between facts and sarcasm. Thirdly, Facebook’s main objective is to keep you on its site, not to play an editor to cull out fake news. This study done in 2012 shows how Facebook can affect your emotional state. If Facebook realises that with news source A, there is a possibility of you logging off sooner whereas you stay longer on Facebook with news source B, it will push more content from news source B. It is the reason why no two Facebook accounts have a similar news feed.  You come across many forwards on WhatsApp daily. A lot of them are ridiculous messages moonlighting as news. We have all seen how the ‘ **nano GPS chip** ’ rumour spread after the new notes were announced. While a lot of people fell for it, it was only after checking other news sources, and using a bit of common sense, that the bluff was called. It is not an algorithm that is spreading these factually incorrect messages. It’s us, humans. So at the end of the day, there is no point putting the blame on an algorithm-driven social network for coming across irrelevant or fake news. The internet has many multiple sources where you can get your news fix. Facebook isn’t the only one.