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#FakeNewsFriday!

Every week we recap the best Social News Posts on SUJO that highlight disinformation, deception, fake news, or news about how we're dealing with it all.  It's the best of what's fake on SUJO. Happy #FakeNewsFriday!
 

False Flags

Terrorist events and disasters have always had disinformation and fake news swirl around them. The events surrounding the mail bombing and the arrest of alleged bomber Cesar Sayoc were no different. The migrant caravan was another big headline that saw its fair share of disinformation this week as well.

While facts and investigations are still unfolding, immediately after the bombs were found, accusations of "false flags" flew around conservative media. A false flag is a deceptive action meant to cast blame on a particular party, nation, or group while hiding the actual perpetrators. Obviously at this point, a false flag attack has not actually been disproven. We are including posts in today's #FakeNewsFriday that talk about the false flag accusations because knowing that influential people are bringing up a particular disinformation tactic is a very relevant part of the overall disinformation discussion. It is not fake news to speculate, no matter how incendiary it might be.

As always, these stories are available on the SUJO app along with questions you can answer anonymously on the app. We'd love to hear what you think!

Check out the "Fake News" topic category in the SUJO app for more! You can also keep up with #FakeNewsFriday on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram!

Many conservative influencers including Ann Coulter, Wayne Allyn Root, and others were making various accusations of "false flags" on social media and talk shows. The posts raised questions about the timing of the event relative to the midterm elections and raised the possibility that the packages were meant to be non-lethal, produce sympathy for Democrats, and animosity towards Trump. Rush Limbaugh suggested on his radio show that a "Democratic operative" was likely behind the packages.

Was the timing of the bomb incident enough to raise suspicion about a false flag?

Elle Magazine tricks followers to click on voter registration link with fake Kim-Kanye breakup tweet

Elle, the female-focused lifestyle magazine, sent out a tweet last week saying Kim Kardashian and Kanye West were breaking up. However, when users clicked on it, the landing page was a voter registration page powered by When We All Vote / Rock the Vote with no mention of the Wests and a message about women candidates and the importance of voting. After a backlash, Elle apologized for the misleading tweet but did not remove it.

Was this tweet an acceptable joke to get people to vote?
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How a six-year-old photo of a bleeding policeman is being used to stoke fears about the migrant caravan

Ginni Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, shared an image purportedly showing how Mexican police were being brutalized by the migrant caravan. However, the image was of a 2012 clash with students in Mexico City, not the migrant crossing at the southern Mexican border. Facebook issued a statement that it had demoted duplicate posts "thanks to one of our third-party fact-checkers." The pic had been shared at least 113,000 times on Facebook and 10,000 times on Twitter.

Do you believe migrants in the caravan are committing acts of violence?

UK accused of 'fake news' complacency

The UK gov't isn't taking action to protect democracy from “fake news”, personal data manipulation, and Russian interference in elections, Members of Parliament said. In a July report MPs said the UK faced a democratic crisis due to the manipulation of personal data, but only 3 of its 42 proposals were accepted. One MP accused the gov’t of making excuses to “further delay desperately needed announcement on the ongoing issues of harmful and misleading content being spread through social media”.

Should the UK government take faster action against disinformation?

How Brazil’s Trump is using WhatsApp to win election

Ahead of the Brazilian presidential election between far-right candidate Jail Bolsonaro and leftist Fernando Haddad, WhatsApp has banned thousands of Brazilian accounts that had been sending out automated anti-Haddad propaganda. Brazilians have very high use of social media in particular WhatsApp. An investigation has been launched into the funding of the automated accounts. Undeclared campaign contributions are illegal in Brazil. Bolsonaro is ahead in polling leading up to the vote on Sun.

Can Facebook / WhatApps realistically fight fake news in all major democracies?
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