How can the Steem blockchain stop the spread of fake news?

in steemit •  7 years ago 


I did this story in the video about a report on fake news.

Turns out right wingers overwhelmingly spread and believe fake news. By the way, I mean ACTUAL fake news, not Trump's use of it, which is just "news I don't like."

Are there ways that the Steem blockchain can prevent the proliferation of fake news?


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Honestly (At the risk of getting 0 upvotes for this post), I fear that Steemit's system might help the spread of fake news even further. The way Steemit works is that you get

a) Near-Absolute Free Speech.
b) Money from the number of likes you get, not the number of views.

This is pretty great for a social media site, however, there's a risk for creators to feel like they need to pander to their audience by validating their biases in order to get more likes, and that would include hiding challenging stories, or twisting them to somehow accommodate their audience's worldview.

The sad truth is that The Truth is not always well received.

one modification, the rewards aren't for the NUMBER of upvotes you get, but rather the Steem Power of those upvotes.

1st up, ;-), I like people with a critical mindset and you are right, Steemit could spread fake news. I am always amazed, for example, how many anti-vaccination guys are promoting their agenda on this platform.

I agree, because people will like things they like to believe in, not what is actually true - Bad and crazy things get far more attention than something that is educational.

a) is the best part of dtube, ending the era of youtube/google/corporate censorship

b) unless you're consuming random content, an echoChamber is always going to exist. It will exist offline too with any tribe or cult: any sports fan is only going to hear the good news about their team and not the bad, no matter what platform they consume that news from.

The real question would be: is the echo chamber generated by the content creator or the consumer?

Have you ever seen the "The Other 98%" on FB or any of the other big left leaning "groups." They consider news to be a meme and rarely is it even close to being accurate. Both sides have a huge fake new issue. Hell, if people would just read the damn content rather than the headline we would all be better off.

If they would do their own research, think for themselves, and put forth a little effort.

Also they really need to learn that whether it makes you uncomfortable or not is not the measure of whether it is fake.

They need to learn that disagreeing with it does not mean it is fake.

If you think it is fake, research it, find some evidence, and write about it, do videos about it, etc.

Yet remember if you are actually trying to help the masses treating them like zombies and bombarding them with the same style fallacies used to promote propaganda is NOT helping them. It just moves them from one brainwash to another without teaching them how to resist brainwash and think for themselves.

"That sounds like bullshit, I should go research it to find out if it is" is substantially different from "That is bullshit! Fake News!"

I've been here a couple months and the insincerity is the first thing that stood out. There are people who share thoughtful comments and you can tell they're just trying to get a vote, but at least they put some time and effort into what they're saying.

The group that bugs me are basically e-beggars with lazy, low-effort "thank you for posting"-type content. It's like chicks fishing for compliments and attention on Insta, but instead of putting SOME work into a cute photo they just snap a pic of themselves laying in bed, messed up hair and face pushed back showing off the double chin.

yeah that is annoying but my practice has been to 100% ignore it. No response, no upvote, no flag. Just pretend it doesn't exist.

Honestly I see general critical thinking skills being a better investment of resources in solving this problem bc it also affects so many other of the problems in society people can stop fake news when they start thinking

I don't disagree with you, and we're actually working on a critical thinking miniseries right now

A bot like a @cheetah to detect and flag fake news should be created, that might be a solution

Hi, I am working on a bot that goes somewhat into this direction, it will be able to dig up high quality posts: TrufflePig an Artificial Intelligence to support Content Curation

Only Right wingers eh, haha.

Most of it is literally #FakeNews...

Dis/Mis-information has always been around.

Do you think Trump use Fake news to Increase his popularity ?!

Nice post.....

Off topic, why can’t I consistently watch videos from d.tube on my iPad? Sometimes it works sometimes not, sometimes a video I have already watched won’t play but then later it will?

I keep getting broadcast error or content not supported! Anyone else experience this and what should I do too correct it? Do I need to pull out my laptop just for steemit? It’s an old beast but should work alright but I don’t want to reinstall the whole thing(virus) if it is a network thing.

Useful information for me and everyone, thank you for sharing

There are so many ways . one i with the help of one's opinion. By sharing what is really true . To stand firm what you know is right. and to tell everybody what is really the truth ! . every little thing you do come big in the future .

Cheers ;)

  ·  7 years ago Reveal Comment

The only thing that can defang fake news is good education. Maybe your critical thinking series will help educate us.

Heh... Critical thinking from him? He's talking about stopping fake news...

Someone that truly understands critical thinking would simply approach it with proof, evidence, point out appeals to authority fallacies, ad hominem attacks, appeal to emotion fallacies, appeal to popularity fallacies, generalizations, etc. These are all fallacies that @davidpakman frequently uses himself.

So stopping fake news... first step, fix yourself and your fake news (not all of it is) first using CRITICAL THINKING. Speak of fact, not opinion. If it is opinion clearly state it is such and realize opinion is not fact. It is great to express opinion, it is not so great when it is presented as fact.

I mean you can call things a "nothing burger" because that fits your agenda that if it were about your opponent you'd be leading the lynch mob.

The guy is another leftist buffoon, who thinks he has an IQ.

Unfortunately he has a big whale that up votes everything he does so people see the big price tag and tend to fall for appeal to authority, and appeal to popularity. He does promote steem, and steemit and I will fight for his right to speak.

I actually look forward to this "critical thinking" series. We shall see then. :)

I have listened, and cringed, to what he has to say. It's.... embarrassing.

I'll pile in on logical destruction when his critical thinking starts. sounds fun!

Everyone has the right to speak, but annoying when the loud speakers are such a different wattage..

Hmm, I don't always agree with David, but I think you are being far too unfair in your assessment.

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He did inspire me. I pointed no fingers at him. Yet this sums up my big problem with a lot of the things David says.

Does your disagreement with something make that thing "fake"?

Also I am up voting your comment. Thank you for speaking up and voicing your opinion.

Well no, thank you for actually engaging and providing a detailed response that takes time. I do agree with some of the things you say (like the nothingburger to an extent and the titles) but I really don't think he engages in so many fallacies as you say, generally I like his content, in particular his interviews. My main problem lately it's that it's become the Russia Pakman Show. Of course, we are not gonna solve our disagreement today. Have a good one!

PS: I hadn't heard the "Appeal to The Stone" before.

By the way. It is the next day. I still see no actual comments or interaction in the comment section from David. From what I look this is what seems to be primarily the norm. This is another reason I am harsh on him. He does these fire and forget posts that paint himself as an authority and then seems to ignore and dialog on the subjects he brings up. What is worse, he'll ask steemit a question, and then mostly ignore any responses.

I like his interviews too. ;) Those are less opinion centric. He certainly has a right to his opinion.

I only heard about "Appeal to Stone" myself 6 months or so ago. That's the thing about critical thinking, you can't really master it, you can just get better at it. So it is something I really try to learn something new about a little at a time. There are tons of different logical fallacies. I think I know the most common ones, but there are some obscure ones I haven't internalized yet. Knowing them is just as important for policing ourselves as it is being able to see past the fallacies used by other people. I make mistakes. Hopefully I learn from them.

Sure they can stop it. Down votes, etc. Anything else is censorship. That is anathema to Steemit.

They could also just challenge it with REASON, CRITICAL THINKING, and PROOF/EVIDENCE which is something someone who claims to teach "Critical Thinking" should know.

I often see you spreading what I would call fake news. Not always, but sometimes. It often comes with someone passing off opinion as fact.

I look forward to your Critical Thinking series... I believe that will be interesting.

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I am @earnmoresteem and you got a 6.25% upvote courtesy of @malonmar! I invite you to send SBD with other post in memo and I will upvote you this new post.

resteemit done dear...

Resteemit done..

Very glad I can watch your videos on dtube now and not on youtube :)

Yeah by proliferating the correct news.

How can you tell which is which?

Because you agree with one and not the other?

Research?

You're right. People who don't care to find out the truth, you cannot help them in any case.

Alternate versions of news backed by evidence will hold value for people who think for themselves & don't want media corporations to think on their behalf.

I think it's actually quite piss poor seeing as how on the list of "Fake News sites" included Wikileaks. Makes me want to call massive amounts of bullshit. Just sayin'.