> The consequences of Zuckerberg’s inaction are now clear. On December 4, a North Carolina man brought a loaded weapon into Washington, D.C.’s Comet Ping Pong to investigate a conspiracy theory called #Pizzagate in which Comet is the hub of a child-trafficking ring organized by Democratic Party operatives. The story was popularized by fake news.
In the days after the election, I too believed in social media's major role the unexpected results. However, after more reflection, the problem seems far beyond facile dissemination of fake news: a large portion of the population are either post-truth thinkers, or, simply never learned how to fact check their news sources. If someone is going to be swayed to elect a different candidate because of a story that popped up in their news feed, there's not a whole lot we can do besides ensure that the next generation is better educated in healthy skepticism and critical thinking.
I'm not sure how you "fix" the problem of fake news. most of the people that believe that CNN is "fake news" also believe the fact checking sites are biased too.
I have a hard enough time with Facebook algorithms choosing what people see without some sort of dashboard to control it as it is. The first amendment still exists and people have a right to consume any garbage they want.
In the days after the election, I too believed in social media's major role the unexpected results. However, after more reflection, the problem seems far beyond facile dissemination of fake news: a large portion of the population are either post-truth thinkers, or, simply never learned how to fact check their news sources. If someone is going to be swayed to elect a different candidate because of a story that popped up in their news feed, there's not a whole lot we can do besides ensure that the next generation is better educated in healthy skepticism and critical thinking.