Facebook Will Try to Fix News

When you try your best and you don’t succeed, you’re probably Hillary Clinton.  When you get what you want but not what you need, you’re probably the 45th President of the United States.  When you’re so tired but you can’t sleep, you’ve probably been traumatized by the news in politics all over the world from the US to North Korea to Malaysia.  And yes, we are all stuck in reverse.

It is inarguably too late but until that ambitious anti-fake news technology mechanism is invented, we have to do with simple education.  You know, the one very thing that can combat fake news.  According to the BBC article titled “Facebook to tackle fake news with educational campaign”…  Wait, wow.  I just realized that I pick articles with the most “You don’t say?” titles.  But yeah, according to that title, Facebook has launched the campaign.

How does it work?  Well, unless you avoid your newsfeed, Facebook will greet you with a sponsored post at the very top.  This ad will appear in 14 countries for 3 days.  If users click on the link, it will direct them to a page that lists down tips on spotting fake news.

I think Facebook deserves applause for effort.  $140+ per share seems like a great investment.  They are clearly doing their jobs and taking responsibility.  Unfortunately, it is not enough.  It is not that what they are doing is morally wrong, it’s just plain ineffective in of itself.

Yes, it’s good to educate.  That’s not the root of the problem.  There are certainly more important issues to consider like the algorithm to rank top stories.  However, the root of the problem is something very fundamental.  You need the audience.

Whenever you have something to say, somebody needs to be at the other end listening.  However, it’s only reaching 14 countries and only for 3 days.  The Olympics is 5 times that length.  Can it really do its job?  Will everyone get the exposure of this campaign?

Granted, some of the 14 countries badly need this now, like the US, United Kingdom, Germany, France and the Philippines.  However, as I expressed in an article last week, fake news does not affect just 14 countries.  Malaysia is not one of the 14 countries but we saw what happened with Bata.  Penetration is king, is it not?

I guess it’s better if some people knew than if the whole campaign didn’t exist at all.  I’ll admit.  This will be a good start.  It certainly won’t be a game-changer and it’s definitely not the end of it.  So, it’s important to note that.  This is not even a half-measure, more like one-tenth measure.  But until then, I’m putting my headphones on, listening to psychedelic tracks blocking my mind from accepting negative news, whether true or not.  I used to rule the world, what a nice thought to have…