"Fake News" & Russia

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/apr/19/russia-fake-news-salisbury-poisoning-twitter-bots-uk

This story shows that Russia has created fake, thousands or maybe millions, of social media accounts to promote fake news, promoting different fake activities that were said to be going on in Russia.“Russia is using cyber as part of a wider effort to undermine the international system. This disinformation campaign is not just aimed at social media and the UK – it is intended to undermine the actual institutions and processes of the rules-based system, such as the Organisation for the Prevention of Chemical Weapons. We must do all we can at every turn to challenge this", said by Theresa May. 

Fake News: Donald Trump vs Russia

   

There has been rumors of Trump starting the "Fake News" phrase. Is it true? According to Sean Illing, the Russians started to use the slogan in the 1900s or 2000s era. Trump was just "borrowing" the phrase to win the 2016 election. In Trump, they found a particularly useful tool,  someone they could use to stoke America's internal divisions and subvert democracy (Illing). Basically, it was a win-win for both parties, Trump would become the POTUS and the Russians would gain more power in their country. It is kind of a twisted story, but a smart and well thought out plan. 

  https://www.vox.com/world/2018/4/5/17172754/russia-fake-news-trump-america-timothy-snyder

“Fake News, Digital Sociology and Computerphile” is a blog post that shared a video with the discussion of the fake news question with Dr. Christian Karnerfrom, from the School of Sociology and Social Policy. The aim of the blog post is to highlight the importance of digital technologies that can enhance the research. Dr. Christian Karnerfrom, emphasizes the negative role of fake information and uses the example of digital technologies as the tool to improve the situation. However, such approach requires professional knowledge, that is why the sociologist focuses on “researchers discussing Computer Science principles and techniques.”

The post “Fake news: what’s behind the media frenzy” by Barbara presents the discussion around fake news. It revolves around the disinformation in social media that is very spread nowadays and its negative causes. According to Donald Trump, it is “the enemy of the American people,” and “any negative polls are fake news.” Disinformation affects people’s relations, leads to conflicts, and forms public view. That is why there is a strong necessity to fight for truth and credibility. However, the author calls the times of fake news not like a new post-truth era but as the phenomena that exist from the past times.

“A List of Mocha Uson’s Fake News Posts” by Jacqueline Arias is about a person who published multiple fake posts. However, the girl apologized for such actions and deleted some posts.

The blog post presents the list of her most popular fake news like: “A Dead Body from Brazil” were she explained the reason for a girl’s death was the problem with drugs while she was raped and killed. Another post, “Getting the Constitution wrong” she cites the Constitution in the wrong way; And Finally, “Honduran soldiers” she used the photo of the Honduras soldiers instead of the Filipino ones.

Twitter Account Put Out Fake News on YouTube Shooting

TheVerge.com states that "hackers were actively compromising a verified employee account to spread misinformation." The twitter account that was hacked was the account belonging to Vadim Lavrusik. Lavrusik tweeted out that he was safe at 2:36 PM and then about 20 minutes later, the hacker started tweeted from Lavrusik's account saying that he lost his friend in the shooting and to help him with which his friends commented on and said this...

Just like all other social media platforms, they are not as reliable as you think when it comes to news. Be careful with what you choose to believe.