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Influencing Election A PUBLICATION OF THE SILHA CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF MEDIA ETHICS AND LAW | FALL 2016 Facebook Confronts Questions, Criticisms over News Distribution, Censorship, and “Fake News” Influencing Election uring the autumn of 2016, social media giant individuals would remain involved in the Trending section Facebook was the target of significant criticism of the site, but their roles would be reduced to ensuring that for its role as a distributor of news to the public. the algorithm was working properly. In August 2016, Facebook replaced its human Quartz reported that Facebook’s decision to rely upon an editors who curated the site’s “Trending” topics algorithm rather than human editors to choose topics came Dsection, a feature that provides users with topics and news after the social media site faced criticisms over political bias. that are currently popular on Facebook, with an algorithm In May, Gizmodo reported that Facebook’s human editors that would determine which topics should be featured. had regularly sought to suppress news topics that might be However, shortly after Facebook deployed the algorithm, of interest to conservatives. Although it denied the reports, a fake news story was promoted in the Trending stories Facebook faced significant criticisms in conservative news section, prompting significant criticism. Facebook faced circles, and the news prompted Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), more controversy in September after it removed a Pulitzer the chairman of the Senate’s Commerce, Science, and Prize-winning Vietnam war photograph from a Norwegian Transportation Committee, to send a letter to Facebook newspaper’s page. In November, Facebook again found itself CEO Mark Zuckerberg asking him to explain whether the in crosshairs as critics accused the social media company company had sought to suppress conservative viewpoints. of failing to filter out fake news during the tumultuous 2016 Press advocates pushed back against Republicans, noting Presidential election season. that the First Amendment allows private companies to Observers of the news industry have suggested that these choose what types of content they publish. types of controversies are important because social media In its August 26 blog post, Facebook said that it has become an increasingly import source from which investigated the bias claims but found no evidence that Americans obtain news. In May 2016, the Pew Research it actually existed. Nevertheless, the social media site Center released the results of a survey indicating that 62 maintained that the switch to an algorithm was still percent of U.S. adults get news from social media, and 44 necessary. “[M]aking these changes to the product allows percent of those surveyed indicated that they specifically our team to make fewer individual decisions about topics,” used Facebook to get news. As a result, critics have argued the company wrote. “Facebook is a platform for all ideas, that Facebook is becoming a key news information source and we’re committed to maintaining Trending as a way for for much of the American public and urged the social media people to access a breadth of ideas and commentary about a site to take greater responsibility in its role as a distributor variety of topics.” of news. On August 29, The Atlantic reported that Facebook found itself at the center of controversy when the Trending Facebook “Trending” Topics Promotes Fake News section featured a topic titled “Megyn Kelly.” The topic itself after Human Editors Laid Off featured a fake news story by a website Ending the Fed On Aug. 26, 2016, Quartz reported that Facebook had that claimed that Megyn Kelly had been fired by Fox News fired its team of human editors who curated and wrote after she endorsed Democratic presidential nominee Hillary descriptions for its “Trending” topics section on the social Clinton. In reality, Fox News had not fired Kelly nor had she media site. In an August 26 post on its “Newsroom” blog, endorsed any presidential candidate. The Atlantic reported Facebook announced that it would use an algorithm that despite the news being false, more than 200,000 people to populate the Trending topics section of the site. The had liked posts on Facebook related to the fake story algorithm would choose the various topics based on the following the website’s promotion of the story through the number of Facebook users’ original posts, mentions, and Trending section algorithm. The story was featured in the shares of the particular subject. Facebook noted that human Facebook, continued on page 3 Inside This Issue Fall 2016: Volume 22, No. 1 1 Facebook Confronts Questions, Criticisms over News 23 Advocates Criticize Law Enforcement Officials’ Deceptive Distribution, Censorship, and “Fake News” Influencing Activities Involving the Press Election Law Enforcement Conflicts Cover Story 25 U.S. Government Ends Formal Oversight of Key Internet 9 Restrictions on “Ballot Selfies” Raise First Amendment Infrastructure Functions Amidst Censorship Concerns Issues During 2016 Election Internet Technology First Amendment 27 Rolling Stone Found Liable for Defaming Dean in Now- 12 President Barack Obama Leaves Mixed Legacy on Retracted Campus Rape Story Government Transparency Defamation Press Freedom 30 Gawker and Hogan Reach $31 Million Settlement in Invasion of Privacy Suit 17 United States Supreme Court Set to Hear Oral Arguments on “Disparaging” Trademarks Invasion of Privacy Supreme Court News 33 State Courts Consider Reporter’s Privilege Issues Reporter’s Privilege 18 American Bar Association Expresses Concerns over Publishing Report Calling Donald Trump a “Libel Bully” 37 Independent Journalists Face Threats to Newsgathering Libel Rights Newsgathering 20 Congress Adopts Law Protecting Online Consumer Reviews Online Speech 40 Media Law Issues at the Forefront in Several States State Law Updates 22 The Daily Beast Pulls Article Effectively Outing Olympic Athletes 45 31st Annual Silha Lecture Examines Freedom of Expression and Racial Justice Tensions on College Campuses Media Ethics Silha Center Events SILHA CENTER STAFF JANE E. KIRTLEY SILHA CENTER DIRECTOR AND SILHA PROFESSOR OF MEDIA ETHICS AND LAW CASEY CARMODY SILHA BULLETIN EDITOR SCOTT MEMMEL SILHA RESEARCH ASSISTANT RONALD WACLAWSKI SILHA RESEARCH ASSISTANT ELAINE HARGROVE SILHA CENTER STAFF 2 Facebook, continued from page 1 and then offer a “related fact check” link to such websites Trending section for approximately eight hours, according to underneath posts that contain dubious news. However, The Atlantic. Mantzarlis was unsure whether Facebook would be willing The promotion of a fake news story three days after its to entertain the idea of hiring fact checkers. decision to terminate human editors was embarrassing for “Is Facebook game? [At an August 29 appearance at Luiss Facebook. CBS News reported on August 29 that the gaffe University in Rome], Zuckerberg repeated that he did not prompted Facebook Vice President of Global Operations want Facebook to become a media organization,” Mantzarlis Justin Osofsky to release a statement apologizing and wrote. “Regardless of whether that ship has sailed or explaining why such a story was promoted in the Trending not, hiring fact-checkers does not have to compromise topics section. “This was a mistake for which we apologize, his vision. It would, in fact, reinforce Facebook’s stated and it has been corrected,” Osofsky said in the statement. ‘News Feed Values,’ which say the network’s experience “We also want to share a bit more context on how it should be ‘informative.’ And it would represent a private happened. A topic is eligible for Trending if it meets the criteria for being a real-world news event and there are a “The algorithm gets smart enough that, sufficient number of relevant articles and posts about that topic. Over the weekend, this topic met those conditions and even if the casino isn’t looking to put a the Trending review team accepted it thumb on the scale, thumbs will appear. thinking it was a real-world topic. We This isn’t just Facebook’s problem — this COVER STORY then re-reviewed the topic based on the likelihood that there were inaccuracies is one of the profound problems of our in the articles. We determined it was time.” a hoax and it is no longer being shown in Trending. We’re working to make our detection of hoax and satirical stories — Jonathan Zittrain, quicker and more accurate.” Harvard Law School professor Despite the apology, critics argued that Facebook’s decision to use algorithms, rather than humans, to determine which news stories were important could create serious company responding to concerns from its users about the problems for the presentation of news on its site. In an trustworthiness of the information available on the network. August 30 interview with The Atlantic, Harvard Law School Most importantly, it would have the added benefit of helping Professor Jonathan Zittrain argued that allowing algorithms reduce misinformation.” to determine what news stories were trending was like a game of roulette. “Even the casino isn’t supposed to know Facebook Faces Criticism After Censoring “Napalm what number is going to win when it spins. And so, if Girl” Photograph there’s some issue, at least it isn’t intentional manipulation On Sept. 9, 2016, The Guardian reported that Facebook by Facebook,” Zittrain said. However, Zittrain noted that faced new criticisms when Norway’s largest newspaper problems could arise when programmers design algorithms published a front-page open letter addressed to Facebook
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