Relentless pro-Tory, fake news bullshit in my Facebook feed

[Chilli.s]

It's all well and good saying FB is crap and being dismissive.

But the large number of potential swing voters see an authoratitive looking group

More fool them then. Life in general shovels tons of this into everyone's path everyday, it's down to the individual to sort it.

 

[editor]

Delete your account.

It's not a realistic option for a lot of people so just repeating the mantra doesn't help.

 

[editor]

More fool them then. Life in general shovels tons of this into everyone's path everyday, it's down to the individual to sort it.

But FB is cleverer than that. It specifically targets an individual's interests, fears and prejudices via hugely complex algorithms to gain maximum reinforcement of the message and maximum clicks.

 

[editor]

And there is more: 1000s of FAKE NEWS bots try to discredit news about SICK BOY on hospital floor

 

[Dogsauce]

The 2015 election showed they could break whatever rules they liked and only get slapped on the wrist with a wet lettuce by the electoral commission. They’ve got millions of quid to spend so have to funnel it somewhere.

I saw a survey report from just before the election which stated 30% of people get their ‘news’ from Facebook, more than read the frothing newspapers. It is significant.

 

[Dogsauce]

& that fake rebuttal of the child on the floor has been pasted in loads of groups, particularly marginal seat areas. It’s definitely being organised, not just the work of a lone prick. Tbh I expected something
Iike this would occur due to the traction it’s getting, but not really beyond a few conspiracy freaks and kipper oddballs throwing out their own cranky explanations. This is a bit more serious.

 

[Chilli.s]

I've had no canvassers of any colour round, this is what they do instead of door to door.

 

[existentialist]

& that fake rebuttal of the child on the floor has been pasted in loads of groups, particularly marginal seat areas. It’s definitely being organised, not just the work of a lone prick. Tbh I expected something
Iike this would occur due to the traction it’s getting, but not really beyond a few conspiracy freaks and kipper oddballs throwing out their own cranky explanations. This is a bit more serious.

I find the exploitation of people's sensibilities in this way even more sickening than the fact this situation arose in the first place.

It's unbelievably cynical, amoral, and...well, even nihilistic. Nothing matters but getting elected. Nothing.

 

[sojourner]

I reported one from Campaign Against Corbynism the other day, only seen that one so far though.

 

[editor]

I've had no canvassers of any colour round, this is what they do instead of door to door.

Way more effective too. Way waste ten minutes arguing honestly with one householder when you can pump out finely tuned unaccountable bullshit that reaches hundreds of thousands of people.

 

[not a trot]

I've had no canvassers of any colour round, this is what they do instead of door to door.

They only have to hear our dog start barking and they're off. Our German shepherd/Rottie cross wouldn't hurt a fly, unless the fly was a fucking Tory.

 

[Chilli.s]

Way more effective too. Way waste ten minutes arguing honestly with one householder when you can pump out finely tuned unaccountable bullshit that reaches hundreds of thousands of people.

eggzackery!

 

[Poot]

They only have to hear our dog start barking and they're off. Our German shepherd/Rottie cross wouldn't hurt a fly, unless the fly was a fucking Tory.

My husband's a bit like this.

 

[Treacle Toes]

 

[salem]

It's not a realistic option for a lot of people so just repeating the mantra doesn't help.

It's also sometimes useful to have a rational voice replying to comment sections too, not so much on the larger sites but I often comment on the local groups and it really does make a difference.

They don't always need the often mentioned Russian Bots, just one unchallenged loudmouth can drive the conversation.

 

[Pickman's model]

Delete your account.

too sensible

 

[Badgers]

Researchers fear 'catastrophe' as political ads 'disappear' from Facebook library

Scary turn of events

 

[editor]

too sensible

You understand that some people need Facebook for work or other reasons, yes?

 

[editor]

Researchers fear 'catastrophe' as political ads 'disappear' from Facebook library

Scary turn of events

Facebook should be made accountable for the damage they do to society as should the cunts paying them cash to pump out endless lies.

 

[Badgers]

Nice to see both truth and accountability being pissed down the river

 

[editor]

Nice to see both truth and accountability being pissed down the river

When you get people you know reposting the bot drivel suggesting that the 'kid on the floor of the hospital' photo was faked, things starts to get really really really fucking depressing. I fucking loathe Facebook, but for many/most people it's their main source of news and chat. Thank fuck this place exists.

 

[Anju]

Lots of posts last night on NHS survival FB group by someone doing the fake news thing about the boy sleeping on the floor. Probably not the best choice of group and everything has been removed now.

My favourite bit of the post from the person claiming to have a friend at the hospital who said the mother staged the photo was that the boy climbed back onto his trolley after the picture. They can't even put a decent lie together but people still choose to believe.

 

[Artaxerxes]

Good to see Nick Clegg still doing his bit for the conservative party mind.

Was worried he'd be phoning it in.

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

I haven't had an ad on Facebook for a while, maybe two months. I just started deleting them and then just closeing the box that asked why, and after a bit they all went.
I am seeing the cons you tube add up constantly though.

 

[UnderOpenSky]

Thank fuck this place exists.

Amen to that. And I'm not evening seeing this vile Tory shit on my FB that's been posted on this thread.

 

[salem]

When you get people you know reposting the bot drivel suggesting that the 'kid on the floor of the hospital' photo was faked, things starts to get really really really fucking depressing. I fucking loathe Facebook, but for many/most people it's their main source of news and chat. Thank fuck this place exists.

That's the thing, you only need a few people to seed the idea and the gullible will happily parrot it. That's something that transcends political affiliation however in this case it's certainly the playbook of the right.

 

[editor]

More about this story.

Another widely circulated post claimed to be from a former paediatric nurse, and claimed to indicate that there was something suspect about some part of the image. There is nothing to indicate that any of those posts were actually legitimate, either.

Very soon after, senior journalists and Conservative candidates began sharing those same claims. Former England cricketer Kevin Pietersen, who is followed by three million people on Twitter, shared the post on his account.

The text of the tweet was also shared onto Facebook, which helped increase its spread. While some speculated that the post was being amplified by bots, many apparently real accounts were seemingly copy and pasting the tweet to share it.

Vast numbers of right-wing accounts are spreading a fake story to undermine distressing photo of child on hospital floor

 

[editor]

And here's fucking Facebook again

Woman whose account spread fake news about boy on hospital floor claims she was hacked

 

[editor]

No, really?

It looked just at every paid-for Facebook ad from the three main UK-wide parties run over the first four days of December:

• for the Conservatives, it said that 88% (5,952) of the party's most widely promoted ads either featured claims which had been flagged by independent fact-checking organisations including BBC Reality Check as not correct or not entirely correct. The figure includes instances of the same claims being made across multiple posts. One example was that Labour would spend £1.2 trillion at a cost of £2,400 to every household, which was contained within 4,028 ads. Those sums are significantly higher than others' analysis of Labour's plans
• for the Lib Dems, it said hundreds of potentially misleading ads had featured identical unlabelled graphs, with no indication of the source data, to claim it was the only party that could beat either Labour, the Conservatives or the SNP "in seats like yours"
• for Labour, it said that it could not find any misleading claims in ads run over the period. However, it noted that the party's supporters were more likely to share unpaid-for electioneering posts than those of its rivals. It said one of these contained leader Jeremy Corbyn's disputed claim that a Tory-negotiated trade deal with the US could cost the NHS up to £500m a week by driving up the cost of medicines

But guess which one the BBC chose to illustrate the above three points?

General election 2019: Ads are 'indecent, dishonest and untruthful'

 

[Dogsauce]

I’d guess the mother of the hospital floor child has a fairly clear-cut case for defamation against those spreading lies about her, yes?