Tuesday, July 31, 2018
Facebook suspends some more quasi-Russian accounts; we really need consolidated paywalls
Facebook reports suspending at least 32 accounts with
pages that behaved in a suspicious manner, trying to spread fake or divisive
news to certain populations, link .
Facebook believes the sites are overseas and
may be Russian, but the IP tracing seems to be much more laundered than before. Facebook believed that the meddling was aimed at the 2018 midterms as well as increasing tribal and social divisiveness.
Some of the accounts tried to push material on
upcoming rallies in Washington. Some had names like “Blac Elevation” and “Eliminate
ICE”.
However, it is disturbing that so many Facebook users
are illiterate and gullible when it comes to receiving news.
I have noticed that not only do most local newspapers
have paywalls now (as well as big city papers), but also so do many periodical
commentary sites – the trend among the latter has increased sharply in recent
months. Many links I give require
paywall subscription to view more than a few articles a month.
As I have noted before, I think Facebook could help by
organizing consolidated paywall accounts, by which users could pick up to maybe
10 reputable publications for a much lower annual price than the sum of them
individually, and could invite reputable newspapers and editorial sites to join.
We really need to get users into the habit of visiting legitimate newspaper sites (including local) and more professional commentary. Of course, I appreciate your visiting me, but I try to refer you to legitimate stories.
Using “private windows”, or multiple browsers and
multiple laptops or phones or tablets could help with the free allowance.
Labels:
elections,
Facebook-specific issues,
fake news,
paywalls,
tribalism
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