{"id":2584,"date":"2021-09-16T14:10:54","date_gmt":"2021-09-16T12:10:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/passion.media\/?p=2584"},"modified":"2021-09-16T14:10:56","modified_gmt":"2021-09-16T12:10:56","slug":"the-more-than-thriving-business-of-fake-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.mym.com\/en\/the-more-than-thriving-business-of-fake-news\/","title":{"rendered":"The (more than thriving) business of fake news!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Hey you ! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ah fake news. They were already at the root of heated debates, now a business is developing around the subject. Yes, there is indeed a fake news industry. Influencers, brands, media… paid to share false content and thus contribute to disinformation. A phenomenon that worries and raises many questions about moderation and regulation of content on social networks<\/a>. Passion Media comes back with you on this thorny issue.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n —<\/p>\n\n\n\n We also talk about “paid disinformation industry”. And the repercussions of this are sometimes colossal. Amending laws, boycotting brands, denigrating personalities, choosing political votes… Fake news and misinformation are present in all sectors. A concrete example? Amazon, the online shopping behemoth. The first element that the buyer looks at: the reviews. However, according to a recently published survey, more than 60 to 70% of the reviews left on the platform are false. This makes us suspicious of the relevance of these reviews. But then, who is behind it? What are the actions put in place? And how to regulate the subject?\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Politics is one of the areas most impacted by this phenomenon. A study published by Odanga Madung and Brian Obilo has also looked into the subject. It highlights a vast industry of paid political propaganda on social networks. There were already bots, which automatically and regularly share false content. Now they are joined by real people. Yes, advertisers are offering people, often in need, contracts ranging from ten to fifteen dollars a day to tweet with hashtags and messages that are dictated to them. An offer that they can not always afford to refuse and that shows all the limits of the system. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Twitter is the most scrutinized social network today on the subject. It was recently criticized for having agreed to monetize ads made against certain hashtags. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Twitter is considered to be at risk, especially with its Twitter Trendings feature, which brings out the trends of hashtags. With a large smear campaign, a fake news hashtag can naturally rise to the top and slip through the cracks of the algorithm. The social network’s spokesperson recently spoke on the subject: “Using both technology and human review, we have proactively and systematically addressed attempts to manipulate the platform, mitigate them on a large scale and have taken action on millions of accounts each week due to violations of our policies.<\/em>”\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Twitter platform is stepping up to the plate, attempting to combat misinformation on the platform. In particular, it recently launched a tool that allows users to report content that seems false. How do they do this? Via the button “this tweet is fake news”. <\/p>\n\n\n\nThe fake industry, a fast-growing sector<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Fake news and politics<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The role of Twitter in this <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Twitter Trendings, a tool that promotes fake news<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
A new tool to report fake content<\/h3>\n\n\n\n