Facebook’s Fact Checking Can Make Fake News Spread Even Faster

After acknowledging that it has a problem with fake news, Facebook introduced a feature recently that flags certain posts as "disputed." In some cases, however, this appears to be having the opposite effect to the one Facebook intended.

According to a report by The Guardian, the tagging of fake news is not consistent, and some stories that have been flagged continue to circulate without a warning. In other cases, traffic to fake news posts actually increased after Facebook applied the warning.

Facebook started rolling out the new feature last month, as part of a partnership with a group of external fact-checking sites, including Snopes.com, ABC News, and Politifact.

When a user tries to share links that have been marked as questionable, an alert pops up that says the story in question has been disputed. The alert links to more information about the fact-checking feature and says that "sometimes people share fake news without knowing it."If the user continues to share the link or story anyway, the link is supposed to appear in the news-feeds of other users with a large note that says "disputed," and lists the organizations that flagged it as fake or questionable.
The idea behind the effort was to try to decrease the visibility of hoaxes and fake news, which many Facebook critics believe are spread rapidly by the site's news-feed algorithm.

Thailand backs down on threat to ban Facebook

The government of Thailand has backed down on a threat to ban Facebook if it did not block content deemed to be illegal in the country.

The ruling military junta last week said it would ban the U.S. social network if it did not disable Thailand-based users from being able to access a selection of 131 “illicit” posts, including content that violates lese majeste laws that prevent criticism of the royal family. The government set a deadline of 10:00 am on May 16 for the pages to be blocked, but TechCrunch has verified that the social network remains accessible in the country while Facebook has not censored the pages, according to media reports.
Facebook provided the following statement:

“When governments believe that something on the Internet violates their laws, they may contact companies like Facebook and ask us to restrict access to that content. When we receive such a request, it is scrutinized to determine if the specified content does indeed violate local laws. If we determine that it does, then we make it unavailable in the relevant country or territory and notify people who try to access it why it is restricted.”

A Thai court initially drew up a list of 309 web pages to be censored. A government spokesperson told the Bangkok Post that Facebook had removed 178 of them as of last week.
Facebook isn’t alone in being pushed to censor its pages. Google and YouTube deleted at least 469 web pages in response to recent government requests, according a report from The Nation. Google did not reply to a request for confirmation or comment.
While Thailand hasn’t enforced a ban on Facebook at this time, it did temporarily block the social network in May 2014, one week after the military seized control of the country via a coup. Speaking at the time, it claimed the issue was down to a glitch, however mobile operator DTAC later revealed that it had acted on an order to block the social network.
Facebook opened an office in Thailand in September 2015, and its audience measure tools suggest it has up to 45 million monthly users. That makes it the largest social network in the country by some margin. Rather than risk a public backlash from a full-out block, Thailand has instead pursued a policy of censoring specific pieces of content within the social network.
This year, it has geo-blocked articles that fall within the lese majeste law and it even making it illegal to exchange information with three prominent critics of the regime who are based overseas. Facebook’s own data shows that the firm restricted access to 50 pieces of content in Thailand during 2016.
In its most recent annual report, Freedom House, a U.S.-based think tank that monitors global web freedom, noted that Thailand’s internet and media are “not free.” The organization cited the jailing of citizens for interacting with Facebook posts and plans for a single national internet gateway to facilitate censorship among its key concerns.

Thai govt ultimatum has passed

Thai govt ultimatum has passed, but Facebook is reportedly not backing down

 

 

Thailand's Internet Service Provider Association (Tispa), under pressure from the government to block access to Facebook, said the social media giant will not remove illicit content until it receives proper court warrants, local media reported.
The government had given Facebook a Tuesday 10 a.m. local time deadline to remove the content or face legal action, the Bangkok Post reported Tuesday.
The report added that Tispa and internet gateway providers sent an email to the managing director of Facebook Thailand on Friday with the request and reportedly said 131 URLs had been deemed inappropriate have yet to be removed.
After the ultimatum passed, Tispa president Morakot Kulthamyothin told Khaosod English that Facebook stands by its policy.
"They [Facebook] said the request to block 131 URLs lacked court orders in the documents, and they said that if the documents are completed, they will proceed with the requests," she told the Thai media.
A Facebook spokesperson told CNBC that the company will review requests such as that by the Thai government and remove content that violates the law.
"When governments believe that something on the Internet violates their laws, they may contact companies like Facebook and ask us to restrict access to that content. When we receive such a request, we review it to determine if it puts us on notice of unlawful content. If we determine that it does, then we make it unavailable in the relevant country or territory and notify people who try to access it why it is restricted."
Last week, Reuters reported that Thailand's National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission said Facebook had failed to remove 131 of 309 web addresses on the platform that were deemed a threat to national security or violated "lese majeste" laws that make it a crime to defame, insult or threaten the king, queen heir to the throne or regent.

IT Expert who saved the World

IT expert who saved the world from WannaCry cyber attack fears for his safety
The British IT expert who slowed the spread of the WannaCry global cyber attack now fears for his safety.
The security researcher, named in reports as Marcus Hutchins, 22, was hailed an ‘accidental hero’ for his discovery of the virus’s kill switch.
However he has said he is now concerned that ‘terrible things’ may be done in retaliation for his efforts.
An international operation is under way to find the perpetrators behind the unprecedented attack that has infected 200,000 machines in 150 countries since Friday.
Speaking to MailOnline, the cyber specialist, known as MalwareTech, said: ‘In future someone might want to retaliate – they could find my identity within seconds.
‘If they know where I live, they could really do anything.’

The workstation where he is believed to have slowed the spread of WannaCry

He referred to the case of another security blogger who was subject to intimidation, including death threats, after his identity was leaked online.
‘I’ve seen posts about the terrible things people have done to him and for me in future it could be the same things,’ MalwareTech said.
Writing on his Twitter account, he said journalists had already tracked down a friend, whose photograph was published in the press and turned up at her house, saying: ‘Please if you want an interview that badly, DM me.’
The online community pleaded for his identity not to be outed online – a research process known as ‘doxing’ – to protect him.
MalwareTech himself wrote: ‘I always thought I’d be doxed by skids (people in hacking forums), but turns out Journalists are 100x better at doxing.’

(Picture: PA)

Theresa May praises NHS staff in wake of cyber attackLoaded: 0%Progress: 0%
But he added: ‘I guess the upside is now I can be a selfie queen and livestream because I’ve got no opsec (operations security) left.’
The keen surfer, who reportedly lives in Devon, was praised by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) for his part in tackling the ransomware’s propagation around the world.
He became an international sensation after he prevented hundreds of thousands of computers from being infected by the virus that wreaked havoc across the NHS.
The blogger said he was ‘jumping around a room with the excitement’ after he discovered that activating a specific web domain could disable the worm.
MalwareTech said he had also been providing the NCSC with data to help notify infected companies, warning that computers which had not had their security brought up to date will be vulnerable to further attack.

(Picture: EPA)

Scam Alert: Fake Facebook Customer Service

A Leesburg resident was the victim of an online scam involving access to the victim's Facebook account, according to Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Kraig Troxell.

On May 10, the victim told police that they were attempting to reset a Facebook password. They located a Facebook customer service number that turned out to be fraudulent.

A person who answered the call claimed the victim’s account was locked and they needed to purchase an iTunes card and provide bank information.

The victim provided the information and purchased several cards before learning it was a scam.
How stupid can someone be, to pay to be on FACEBOOK? I am not stupid enough to even be on Facebook. There is a sucker born every 10 seconds, every 2 seconds in PWC.

Here are a few things you can do to keep your account secure:

• Protect your password. Don't use your Facebook password anywhere else online, and never share it with other people. Your password should be difficult to guess. Avoid including your name or common words. Learn more about creating a strong password.
• Never share your login information. Scammers may create fake websites that look like Facebook and ask you to login with your email address and password. Always check the website's URL before you enter your login information. When in doubt, type www.facebook.com into your browser to get to Facebook. Learn more about avoiding phishing.
• Log out of Facebook when you use a computer you share with other people. If you forget, you can log out remotely.
• Don't accept friend requests from people you don't know. Scammers may create fake accounts to friend people. Becoming friends with scammers might allow them to spam your Timeline, tag you in posts and send you malicious messages.
• Watch out for malicious software. Learn the signs of an infected computer or device and how to remove malicious software. Keep your web browser up to date and remove suspicious applications or browser add-ons.
• Never click suspicious links, even if they appear to come from a friend or a company you know. This includes links on Facebook (ex: on posts) or in emails. Keep in mind that Facebook will never ask you for your password in an email. If you see a suspicious link on Facebook, report it.
• Use our extra security features. For example, you can get alerts about unrecognized logins and choose friends to be your trusted contacts. If you're logged into Facebook on a computer, you can use Security Checkup to review your security settings.