Category: Fake News We Don’t Like

Fake News Consumption During the 2016 Presidential Campaign: Facebook Was a Key Factor

While this study shows Fake News was definitely accessed and consumed during the 2016 election, particularly through Facebook, the study cannot conclude what the consequence is of consuming Fake News.

A link to the full study provides a list of Fake News websites with measurable bias, both Pro-Trump and Pro-Clinton.

Important takeaways:

“This pattern of differential Facebook visits immediately prior to fake news website visits is not observed for Google (1.9% fake news versus 6.5% hard news), Twitter (0.9% fake news versus 1.9% hard news), or webmail providers such as Gmail (6.7% fake news versus 7.0% hard news). Our results provide the most compelling independent evidence to date that Facebook was a key vector of fake news distribution.”
“Future research should also seek to employ designs that allow us to assess the effects of exposure to fake news and other forms of misinformation, which may have pernicious consequences.”
“Fact-checking consumption is measured using visits to the four major national fact-checkers: PolitiFact (including state affiliates included on the main PolitiFact domain), the Washington Post Fact Checker, Factcheck.org, and Snopes (which specializes in rumors and urban legends and is thus especially relevant to the fake news phenomenon).”
“Trump supporters visited the most fake news websites, which were overwhelmingly pro-Trump. However, fake news consumption was heavily concentrated among a small group — almost 6 in 10 visits to fake news websites came from the 10% of people with the most conservative online information diets. We also find that Facebook was a key vector of exposure to fake news.”

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New Study Presents Analysis of Fake News Consumption During the 2016 Presidential Campaign

January 2, 2018 – Fake news has become part of the news cycle in the U.S. but how does it reinforce one’s political views and what role does social media have in its spread?

A new study by researchers at Dartmouth, Princeton and the University of Exeter examines these very questions by looking at fake news consumption before and directly after the 2016 presidential election. The study also examines if fact-checks are reaching fake news readers.

Through an online survey of 2,525 Americans conducted by YouGov Pulse (Oct. 7 – Nov. 16, 2016), the study examines users’ browsing histories: what they are reading– fake news vs. hard news; if it has an ideological slant; and how users are accessing such content whether it be via Facebook, Google, Twitter, or email.

Here are some highlights from the study:

  • Approximately one in four Americans visited a fake news site during the study period with the highest among pro-Trump supporters visiting pro-Trump content.
  • Almost 6 in 10 visits to fake news websites came from the 10 percent of Americans with the most conservative information diets. Sixty-six percent in the most conservative decile visited at least one pro-Trump fake news site.
  • Facebook (FB) played a key role in exposing people to fake news. Immediately prior to visiting a fake news site, respondents were disproportionately likely to have visited Facebook as compared to Google or Twitter.
  • Almost no one who consumed fake news content also read a fact-check article debunking a false or misleading claim in the article.

The study provides new insight on fake news, how social media may exacerbate online “echo chambers” or selective exposure to misinformation, and how fact-checks may not be reaching the fake news audience.

Study co-author Brendan Nyhan, is a professor of government at Dartmouth and contributor to The Upshot at The New York Time. Andrew Guess at Princeton University and Jason Reifler at the University of Exeter also served as co-authors of the study.

Hijab Cutting Incident Never Happened: Toronto Police

Man wanted in Assault with a Weapon investigation,
Birchmount Road and Bay Mills Boulevard area,
Update,
Investigators determine events described in news release
did not happen

Broadcast time: 10:38
Monday, January 15, 2018

42 Division
416-808-7100

Case #: 2018-70367

On Friday, January 12, 2018, the Toronto Police Service requested assistance identifying a man involved in an Assault with a Weapon investigation.

After a detailed investigation, police have determined that the events described in the original news release did not happen.

The investigation is concluded.

For more news, visit TPSnews.ca.

Press release #1

Man wanted in Assault with a Weapon investigation,
Birchmount Road and Bay Mills Boulevard area,
Update,
Investigators determine events described in news release
did not happen

Broadcast time: 15:16
Friday, January 12, 2018

42 Division
416-808-4200

Case #: 2018-70367

The Toronto Police Service requests assistance identifying a man involved in an Assault with a Weapon investigation.

On Friday, January 12, 2018, at 9 a.m., officers responded to a call for a hate crime in the Birchmount Road and Bay Mills Boulevard area.

It is reported that:

– an 11-year-old girl was walking to school

– she was approached from behind by a man

– he pulled off the hood to her jacket

– he then cut her hijab with a pair of scissors

– he then fled the area

The man is described as Asian, 20-30, 5’7″-5’8″, thin build, black hair with straight bangs to the eyebrows, thin moustache, black prescription glasses. He was wearing a black hooded sweater with the hood up, black pants, brown gloves.

Police are asking any business owners or residents in the area, who may have security or dash cam video, to check their footage as it may have captured the man loitering in the area prior to the assault.

This is being investigated as a hate crime.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 416-808-4200, Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-TIPS (8477), online at www.222tips.com, or text TOR and your message to CRIMES (274637). Download the free Crime Stoppers Mobile App on iTunes, Google Play or Blackberry App World.

Update: On Monday, January 15, 2018, the Toronto Police Service announced that investigators have determined the events described in this news release did not happen.

For more news, visit TPSnews.ca.

TINA, Truth in Advertising.org, Lists 7 Marketers to Beware: Goop, Kardashians & More

Photo: Goop Magazine, Issue 2, Courtesy shop.goop.com.

7 MARKETERS, INFLUENCERS THAT GET COAL IN THEIR 2017 HOLIDAY STOCKINGS

As we ring in the New Year, the folks at TINA.org (TINA.org exists to out deceptive marketing and promote honest advertising) like to wring out companies and/or people whose advertising didn’t meet truth in advertising standards. This year’s list of marketers that should get coal — notice they didn’t say clean coal — in their holiday stockings runs the gamut from a women’s lingerie website that essentially stripped consumers of their ability to cancel memberships to a supplement that falsely claims that it’s “clinically shown” to improve memory. Here’s who is on TINA.org’s 2017 list (in alphabetical order):

+ 1. Adore Me

Facing allegations that it failed to treat its VIP members very importantly, New York-based women’s lingerie website Adore Me agreed to pay more than $1.3 million to settle FTC charges that it deceived shoppers who enrolled in what turned out to be a thorny negative-option offer. The FTC action followed a TINA.org investigation and complaint to the agency and laid bare how the lingerie company put up barriers to canceling VIP memberships and broke promises that store credits could be used “any time.”

+ 2. DealDash

Unless you swore off TV in 2017 chances are you’ve seen commercials for DealDash, a penny auction site that spends a prodigious amount on advertising (more than $50 million in 2016). And if you’ve seen the ads, you’re familiar with DealDash’s slogan — “the fair and honest bidding site.” But what you may not know is that advertised bargains on electronics, appliances, and other products don’t include the cost of bids. In fact, a TINA.org investigation found most consumers can expect to lose money bidding on items on DealDash. Moreover, the company’s pay-to-bid scheme constitutes a form of illegal gambling, as TINA.org noted in complaint letters to six state attorneys general and the FTC.

+ 3. Goop

TINA.org had a very Goop-y summer. Let us explain: In June, Goop, Gwyneth Paltrow’s “lifestyle brand,” hosted its first-ever wellness summit in, where else, LA. TINA.org was there, undercover, and along with some swag took home a number of illegal health claims for products Goop promotes. These would become part of a larger sampling of claims to treat everything from depression to infertility that we packaged and shipped to regulators in California to investigate further.

+ 4. The Kardashians

Either they don’t “get it” or the Kardashian/Jenner sisters are purposely breaking the law for the benefit of the brands that pay them to promote their products on social media and may not want that disclosed. What other reason is there for the world’s foremost social media family to continue to skirt disclosing #ad in paid-for posts? For the second year in a row, TINA.org uncovered a plethora of sponsored posts published by the Kardashian/Jenner sisters that lack proper disclosure in violation of federal endorsement guidelines. And for the second year in a row, we notified the FTC of our findings.

+ 5. LuLaRoe

We could barely keep up with the number of class-action complaints filed against California-based LuLaRoe in 2017. In fact, the pyramid scheme allegations and claims of defective apparel came so fast that, in November, we had to make a chart to help make sense of it all. That was seven months after we published a review of LuLaRoe outlining what consumers should know about the MLM, whose distributors are known for flooding social media with pitches to sell its highly sought after “unicorn” leggings. LuLaRoe has dismissed the allegations and in the face of mounting criticism responded with a lawsuit of its own.

+ 6. Prevagen

The marketers of Prevagen should remember 2017 as the year in which its memory improvement claims were finally given the regulatory scrutiny we at TINA.org think they deserve. Two years after TINA.org called on the FTC to halt Wisconsin-based Quincy Bioscience’s deceptive marketing of Prevagen, the agency, along with the New York State Attorney General, charged the company with making false and unsubstantiated claims that its Prevagen supplement improves memory, provides cognitive benefits, and is “clinically shown” to work.

+ 7. Target

Target may have dodged a bullet (or, more precisely, a hefty fine) when the FTC opted not to further pursue an inquiry into the retailer’s misleading Made in the USA claims, in part because Target assured the agency that it had cleaned up its marketing. But TINA.org picked up right where the FTC left off and found a range of products specified as “Made in the USA” on Target.com despite their packaging indicating that they’re either wholly or partially made in other countries. At which point we called on the FTC to reopen its investigation.

Read more about TINA.org’s legal efforts to fight false and deceptive advertising here.

FDA Needs Public to Report Adverse Events Related to Homeopathic Products

ICBM False Alarm in Hawaii: Wrong Button & Other Issues Addressed by Governor & EMA

‘Wrong button’ sends out false missile alert

Trump Feared Dead & Tower Fire a Deep State Assassination Attempt

A publication by the name of Neon Nettle has more than 44,000 followers on Twitter and maintains a Facebook site more than a half a million followers reporting “Fake News” and conspiracy theories on a daily basis. Might be a good candidate for the upcoming Fake News Awards?

Fake News Awards Postponed To Jan 17: Twitter Funnies

Fake News Awards: Twitter Funnies

 

Want to Join Impeachment March DC on Jan 20? You Can’t, Because it’s Not Really Happening

Full text:

*** PLEASE NOTE: *** Impeachment March Worldwide has NOT scheduled ANY January 20 Impeachment March. A recently circulated, anonymous Facebook notice promoting a Jan. 20 impeachment march was traced to a commercial meme site, produced either to generate interest or to confuse impeachment supporters. HOWEVER, Sister City Impeachment March organizers are encouraged to REACH OUT to local Jan. 20 WOMEN’S MARCH Groups, and to ask whether they can fold our message into theirs. Impeachment March – Los Angeles is doing this, and we understand that other Sister Cities are making the same effort. Some will say “Great!” and some will say “Another Day.” The bottom line is that we are STRONGEST when we embrace our UNITY in DIVERSITY.

While Impeachment opens the door to saving our democracy, we ask that all supporters respect the needs of Sister City Jan. 20 Women’s Marches and join in solidarity on that day with their broad message (and some will surely welcome ours!). We are all moving FORWARD in the SAME DIRECTION, so please STAY TUNED for more updates, which we’ll continue to post for your review and action.

 

 

 

 

Donald Trump Won’t Be Charged Due to Assassination, Psychic Predicts

Lyndsay Edwards on Twitter:
Psychic predictions are spirits words not mine. As per UK law all psychic predictions/readings/spells are for entertainment purposes only.

—————————

DONALD TRUMP WON’T FACE CHARGES – PSYCHIC PREDICTION

Date: 1st December 2017

Below is the psychic prediction given to me by spirit back in July 2017 about President Trump and the Russia investigation, with the news released today that Flynn is to testify against President Trump I thought it’s best we get some insight/update from the spirit world…

My spirit guide shows me that Michael Flynn will be charged and face jail time for his involvement in the scandal. I am shown that Donald Trump will be investigated and questioned but again I am shown a court case which will take place after President Trump has passed over to the spirit world, Donald Trump Jr will be in the firing line in this court case and it won’t end well for him.  I do get the strongest sense that Trump will totally get away with all of this and those around him will be left to deal with the mess, I am still shown by spirit that Trump will be assassinated – this looks different to how I’ve seen it unfold before though, I’m not sure why that is but it could be because there is more than one individual looking to do this now and so it will be a case of who gets there first. Spirit do make me aware of an American male who has the darkest thoughts about taking Trump out in this horrific way and I am shown that he could go through with it, if he does it won’t be with a bow an arrow as previously shown to be used by the other male, this American man will use more modern day tools – it’s scary!!

It’s very sad to watch all of this madness unfold via spirit and spirit are adamant that the court case will have to continue with those closest to Trump after his death. I am also reminded by spirit that this legal investigation will continue for quite some time, enough time for President Trump to eradicate ISIS first.

Donald Trump Won’t Face Charges – Psychic Prediction

 

 

Facebook Tool Shows if You Followed or Liked Russian Internet Research Agency Pages

How can I see if I’ve liked or followed a Facebook Page or Instagram account created by the Internet Research Agency?

Click here to see if you liked or followed any of these accounts (you must be logged in to your Facebook account for it to work):

https://www.facebook.com/help/817246628445509?helpref=faq_content

Hopefully, you will see this message: You haven’t liked or followed any pages or accounts from the IRA (Internet Research Agency).
Login with your Instagram account to see if you’ve followed an IRA Instagram account.
——————————–https://skepticreview.com/2017/11/03/propaganda-samples-released-us-house-intelligence-commitee/

September 21, 2017

Facebook to Provide Congress With Ads Linked to Internet Research Agency

By Colin Stretch, General Counsel

Two weeks ago, we announced we had found more than 3,000 ads addressing social and political issues that ran in the US between 2015 and 2017 and that appear to have come from accounts associated with a Russian entity known as the Internet Research Agency. We subsequently made clear that we are providing information related to those ads, including the ad content itself, to the Special Counsel investigating allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 US election. Since then, some people have asked why we aren’t sharing the content of the ads more broadly.

After an extensive legal and policy review, today we are announcing that we will also share these ads with congressional investigators. We believe it is vitally important that government authorities have the information they need to deliver to the public a full assessment of what happened in the 2016 election. That is an assessment that can be made only by investigators with access to classified intelligence and information from all relevant companies and industries — and we want to do our part. Congress is best placed to use the information we and others provide to inform the public comprehensively and completely.

This has been a difficult decision. Disclosing content is not something we do lightly under any circumstances. We are deeply committed to safeguarding user content, regardless of the user’s nationality, and ads are user content. Federal law also places strict limitations on the disclosure of account information. As our biannual transparency reports make clear, we carefully scrutinize all government data requests, from here and abroad, and we push back where they do not adhere to those legal limitations. And, of course, we also recognize and support the important work of government investigations and take care not to take steps, like public disclosures, that might undermine them.

Over recent weeks, we have grappled with the extraordinary nature of this particular investigation through this lens. The questions that have arisen go to the integrity of US elections. And the limited information Congress and the intelligence community have shared with us to date suggests that efforts to compromise the 2016 election were varied and sophisticated — and that understanding those efforts requires a united effort, from across the technology, intelligence and political communities. We believe the public deserves a full accounting of what happened in the 2016 election, and we’ve concluded that sharing the ads we’ve discovered, in a manner that is consistent with our obligations to protect user information, can help.

That’s why we have reached out to congressional leadership to agree on a process and schedule to provide the content of these ads, along with related information, to congressional investigators. At the same time, we will continue our own review and investigation, and to do our part to make sure investigators have the information they need. We look forward to their comprehensive assessment, and to a greater public understanding of what took place.

Melania Trump to Personally Murder Beloved Tree? Not Exactly

CNN was the first to report on December 26, 2017 that the historic magnolia tree on the White House grounds has now become a safety hazard. Note that the headline doesn’t even include Melania Trump.

Exclusive: Iconic White House tree to be cut down (CNN)

http://www.cnn.com/2017/12/26/politics/white-house-jackson-magnolia-south-facade/index.html

 

As the day wore on, the misleading headlines started to come in. The following specifically mention Melania Trump, a very incidental part of CNN’s original story:

Melania Trump Orders Large Portion Of Historic White House Tree Removed (Huffington Post)

Melania Trump orders removal of 200-year-old tree from White House lawn. (Slate)

Melania Trump orders White House tree from 1800s to be cut down (Independent UK)

Melania Trump Orders Removal of Near-200-Year-Old Tree From White House (Newsweek)

Melania Trump orders removal of historic White House tree (Daily Mail)

Melania Trump Orders White House’s 200-Year-Old “Jackson Magnolia” Tree Cut (Redstate)

Melania Trump orders removal of 200-year-old tree — the oldest at the White House (Raw Story)

Melania Trump Demands 1800s Tree Cut Down On White House Grounds (Inquisitir)

A White House Tree Is Being Cut Down At Melania Trump’s Decision (Elite Daily)

These news outlets leave Melania Trump out of the mix, but readers still found them misleading per Facebook comments:

White House to cut down 200-year-old tree (New York Post)

White House to remove historic Jackson Magnolia (Washington Examiner)

Tree that’s been at White House since 1800s scheduled to be Cut (The Hill)

Historic White House Jackson Magnolia Tree to be Cut Down (US News)

And here are some very fair headlines:

Part of historic Magnolia tree planted by President Andrew Jackson to Be Removed (Fox)

White House to cut back magnolia tree planted by Andrew Jackson (Washington Post)

Part of Jackson Magnolia on South Lawn coming down, White House Coming Down (CBS)

Part of weakened White House magnolia tree to be removed (Boston Herald)

White House to Remove Part of Tree Planted by Andrew Jackson (Time)

And this final headline seems to be most accurate of all:

Part of White House Magnolia tree to be removed for safety – ABC News