The cops are in the house as Facebook ups its cybersecurity hiring former White House official to regulate the wave of hate speech and fake news spewed by Facebook users around the world.
RELATED:
Social Media Imperialism? Facebook Bans Palestinian Content at Behest of Israel, US
Nathaniel Gleicher left his position at Illumio, a cybersecurity firm, earlier this month.
The former White House employee brings his cybersecurity experience to the team as the media company strategizes new security measures in light of 2016's allegations of its failure to censor posts surrounding the 2016 presidential elections.
The social media giant was under fire for allegedly failing to curb alleged Russian interference in the period leading up to the elections. Ultimately, they agreed to increase security and surveillance services on the site. According to reports, the company is taking steps to honor their statement.
Last week, the major media company revealed its purchase of Confirm, a software company based out of Boston, which has until now specialized in authenticating government-issue id's. Facebook has not announced its plans for the ID company, however, Confirm wrote on its website about the transition of its employees and energies will ultimately unite with the social media's future endeavors.
Trust is one among many signals, but only applies for publishers for which we have enough data, so it doesn’t yet effect most publishers.
— Adam Mosseri (@mosseri) January 24, 2018
What the worth of these endeavors might be, however, has yet to be seen. Most recently, Facebook has decided to give billions of its users the right to determine the worth and legitimacy of a news corporation via a two-question survey in order to combat “fake news.”
The first question asks users if they recognize the news site. This inquiry is followed by a second, which asks participants to rate the site on a five-point scale for “trustworthiness” on first impressions.
Amidst a roar of criticism from journalists and media news sites, Facebook has rushed to defend its survey.
"I understand that some people may balk at how simple a survey is, but complicated surveys can be confusing and bias signal, and meaningful patterns can emerge from broad surveys," Adam Mosseri, Facebook's News Feed chief tweeted.
RELATED:
Brazil: Mr Fuck Wants Fake-News Law But Indie Media Wary
Experts denounced the claim, saying not only would it be damaging and unhealthy to journalism and the daily consumption of news, but also would worsen the alleged fake news dilemma on the site.
"If Facebook is truly committed to banning misinformation, the survey falls short,” said Charlie Beckett, the director at London School of Economics Truth, Trust and Technology Commission.
“Determining the credibility of news items on Facebook by a user-survey is just an attempt to crowd source the difficult and complex work of fact-checking,” denounced Cristian Fuchs, a social media expert and professor at the University of Westminster.