BUS 356 Powerpoint

1. Facebook & the News
Joshua Tracey
BUS 356 Show & Tell

2. What is the issue?
• After the recent presidential election, many people are criticizing
Facebook and other social media sites for allowing false and
inaccurate stories to be shown as news.
• Facebook uses very advanced algorithms to determine which
stories to show on a person’s timeline.
• People are now using Facebook’s algorithms to try and tailor
stories to them.
• 44% of Americans get news from Facebook

3. Facebook and the election
• Blatantly false articles were shared millions of times, with many
of them coming extremely close to election day.
• Many believe that Facebook substantially influenced election
results, to a point where some are calling Facebook a propaganda
device.
• Much of the content is created by a rising industry in southern
Europe that pays up to $5000 a month.

4. Facebook’s response
• Facebook says more needs to be done to prevent false news stories.
• “We take misinformation on Facebook very seriously. We value authentic
communication, and hear consistently from those who use Facebook that they
prefer not to see misinformation. In Newsfeed we use various signals based on
community feedback to determine which posts are likely to contain inaccurate
information, and reduce their distribution. In Trending we look at a variety of
signals to help make sure the topics being shown are reflective of real-world
events, and take additional steps to prevent false or misleading content from
appearing. Despite these efforts we understand there’s so much more we need
to do, and that is why it’s important that we keep improving our ability to
detect misinformation. We’re committed to continuing to work on this issue
and improve the experiences on our platform.” – Facebook’s VP of Product
Management Adam Mosseri

5. Questions
• Is Facebook responsible for the content on its website?
• What can Facebook do to better monitor the content on its site?
• Should social media have the same requirements as media
companies in regards to news stories?
• 62% of Americans use social media for news.

6. My Opinions
• As ideal as it would be to have Facebook monitor all of the
information from the various outlets, it is just not feasible or even
possible for Facebook to do so without violating Freedom of
Speech.
• The responsibility for obtaining accurate information falls on the
reader, as it is impossible for social media to effectively
determine what is actual news.

7. Bibliography
• http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-election-media-20161109-
story.html
• https://techcrunch.com/2016/11/10/facebook-admits-it-must-do-
more-to-stop-the-spread-of-misinformation-on-its-platform/
• http://nymag.com/selectall/2016/11/donald-trump-won-because-
of-facebook.html