Fake News Again
Fake news is alive and well. I read last Friday that within 20 minutes of disclosure of the school shooter’s identity, people were creating fake Facebook accounts in the shooter’s name and making false implications about him, such as any alliance with the antifas or alliance with Hillary or alliance with Trump, etc.
First, why do people do that? It seems kind of sick to “play games” after students have been killed. I don’t understand people who like to manipulate people in ways that could lead to harm.
Second, how do we identify fake news? If you google “identifying fake news” or something like that, you will find quite a few articles. The two most often mentioned and stand out in my mind are 1) if there are actually very few posts, especially photos, and few friends and few discussions and 2) if the activity and friends don’t jive with the profile. If the profile says the person is located in Florida but the friends connection is mostly Indian or Arabic, then the account could be fake.
Me, I think I will stick to the mainstream news and not relying on Facebook. Facebook is more for following friend activity than for following the news, at least at this time.
