zlacker

[parent] [thread] 1 comments
1. est+(OP)[view] [source] 2020-06-02 02:28:19
> The only thing they need to do is that if a post that went viral is debunked, they need to show a retraction to users that have engaged with the fake content.

The difficulty is the latter part. How to make sure the user see the retraction? CTR is hard man.

And China already do that, on Weibo it's a promoted feature. During its course over the years, authorities and private companies are abusing the feature, they provide half-assed debunks without further explanation, or even debunk with blatant lies. Since the retraction is a small text and often read-only, there is no proper way to debunk the debunk. PR firms use this feature to spread even more propaganda and shutdown rival messages. For example company A says ingredient X is bad for your health, company B shut it down by pointing out a tiny non-relevant loophole in the grammar, then says the research by company A is a lie, please continue to buy our product.

What to do at this point? It's a vicious circle.

replies(1): >>jfim+L
2. jfim+L[view] [source] 2020-06-02 02:35:22
>>est+(OP)
Interesting, I wasn't aware of that already happening on Chinese social media. Thanks for the info.

I'm not sure that I agree with you that it's hard to make users see the retraction, but as you point out there's clearly ways to abuse a retraction system. It would also likely cause all of the metrics that social networks have spent years optimizing to go down.

[go to top]