Description: Russian Government Has Launched Its Own Service to Fight Fake News Fake news stories have always been around but the Age of the Internet has given rise to a whole new form of false information. People write fake stories with headlines likePope Francis Shocks World Endorses Donald Trump for President as clickbait. The headlines arent exposing true newsbut rather drawingreaders to fake news sites in order to make money through ads. Somewhere along the way however the idea that fake news exists became the perfect tool for calling out competitors within the media. And not just competitors but alternative sites without ulterior motives except to present information in an unbiased wayand forcepeople to think outside the brainwashed boxes theyve been carefully placed into by societies governments elitists and more. As if the exhaustion over the fake news epidemic hasnt been enough it seems now the Russian government has launched its own fake news tracker. Facebook after spending much time ignoring the matter ultimately caved and announced its plan to work toward an algorithm that ensuresfake news doesnt fill up peoples feedsand filtersout as much of the assumed fake fluff as possible.Therearealso companies like Snopes and PolitiFact trying to combat the problem though their real agenda is heavily debated as isthe fact checking on mainstream media sites such as ABC News. Russias tracker is a bit different however. The articles the Russian government pinpoints as false are shown on theMinistry of Foreign Affairs website with a big red FAKE stamp over them along with a disclaimer that says: This material contains data not corresponding to the truth. According to Maria Zakharova spokeswoman of the ministry the list will be regularly updated to make an example of such propaganda dumped by various media outlets providing links to their sources. Among the pages featured are reporting from The New York Times Bloomberg NBC Britains Daily Telegraph and the U.S. local Santa Monica Observer . The Russian government has long been considered corrupt and their new fake news tracker only strengthens that view especially considering the ministry offers zero explanation for why the articles are thought of as fake nor any criteria outliningwhat false reportingentails. Eileen Murphy a spokeswoman for The Times points out the oddities of the service saying Its a dangerous and troubling situation for governments or individuals to simply assign the label of fake news to a story they dont like instead of challenging specific facts or offering counter evidence. And urges We stand by our reporting. It seems many people are confused by the tracker of a country that has been widely accused of spreading fake news. In fact French intelligence personnel politicians and political experts note that a Kremlin-supported disinformation campaign is currently working to alter the results of the ongoing French election much like it is thought they did withthe U.S. election campaign. But Zakharova says such accusations are baffling :Russia is being accused of doing this but how can you accuse us of disseminating untrue information by government agencies and the media while you are doing the same against Russia? . . .While publishing information about Russia the world media is doing the same thing they never cite concrete facts this is a sad paradox. However there is a big difference between empty accusations of fake news like what Russia is doing and the Kremlin being accused of spreading that news. Fake news happens theres no denying that but if we are going to call out stories for being untrue we need to have the facts to back up those accusations otherwise they become just as fake as the news they are trying to debunk.
By Frankie Cordeira Jr.
Pinned to Domestic and Global News on Pinterest
Found on: http://ift.tt/2lH6Jzf
By Frankie Cordeira Jr.
Pinned to Domestic and Global News on Pinterest
Found on: http://ift.tt/2lH6Jzf