This explains so much following this year's election. Just take a look at this Wall Street Journal interactive piece on facebook.

In the 21st century, we are well beyond a trusted news anchor to give you unbiased reporting. We now receive "news" through various filters and curation across various social media feeds. Just spend a minute or two clicking on the tags on this Wall Street Journal interactive piece to see just how filtered and curated your news is.

I am sure this wasn't the facebook developers intent, but we need to get serious about solving this hyperbolic rift in how "news" today (as in our social media feeds) is being presented and consumed. There need to be safe guards built in to ensure stories are valid, accurate, and credible just as Google did early on within its algorithms for page ranks.

 False news on Twitter during Superstorm Sandy.

False news on Twitter during Superstorm Sandy.

I use to work in disaster response and would often get very upset with false reports on Twitter that got retweeted before they were validated. Over 4 years ago, back in 2012 with Superstorm Sandy, there were countless false stories and alerts that went viral on Twitter. The old established news outlets – trying to keep up with the times – would rebroadcast these hoaxes and misinformation in an effort to remain relevant.

 Fake Superstorm Sandy picture that was taken from a doomsday Hollywood movie.

Fake Superstorm Sandy picture that was taken from a doomsday Hollywood movie.

It isn't just with facebook or Twitter either. I rarely use Apple News anymore on my iPhone because it knows I like science and space. My Apple News feed has gotten so filtered that it is full of alien conspiracy theorists claiming every odd rock in a photo from Mars is evidence of a NASA cover up. There is just too much false news mixed in with the real news to be valuable.

I don't work for facebook, Apple, Google, or even a traditional media corporation, but I would happily consider it if I could get a crack at fixing such a pressing problem like this one. We need both the development of UI design conventions and new specific types of AI focused on validation of source content to fix this immediately.

Don't worry this article is from the Wall Street Journal and I fact checked it for you - check it out here.

 

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