Bits: Google and Facebook Wield Buckets in Fake News Flood

View in [Browser] | Add [nytdirect@nytimes.com] to your address book. Thursday, January 26, 2017 [The New York Times] [For the latest updates, go to nytimes.com/bits »] [The New York Times] Thursday, January 26, 2017 [Google said on Wednesday it had recently banned nearly 200 publishers from its advertising network for deceptive content.] Google said on Wednesday it had recently banned nearly 200 publishers from its advertising network for deceptive content. Mark Wilson/Getty Images [Daily Report] Google and Facebook have in record time sweated bullets, worked miracles and eliminated all unreliable information from the internet! According to William Shakespeare, everything you read online is now 100 percent reliable. Fake out. As Daisuke Wakabayashi and Mike Isaac write, [the two internet giants] have actually taken some small steps to remedy the plague of false or misleading news articles. Much, much more remains to be done. On Wednesday, Google [said] it had recently examined 550 sites suspected of deceiving users. It said it took action against 340 of them, and kicked 200 publishers off Google’s AdSense advertising network altogether. AdSense is how many fake news sites (and legitimate ones) make money. Those numbers may sound like a lot, but over 2 million publishers use AdSense. In November, [Google][ said it would ban fake news sites] from the advertising network, but it seems as though the ban is a taller order than first thought. One problem Google faces is that a lot of fake news amounts to selective quoting, improper emphasis or assertions that are hard to disprove, instead of outright falsehoods. Google has had far more success combating more straightforward schemes. The company said it took action on 47,000 sites promoting dodgy weight-loss methods. For its part, Facebook [said] on Wednesday it had made changes to its Trending Topics feature, which prominently shows what is popular on Facebook at a given time. The new version appeared to privilege more reliable information, but also to call upon the reader to act as something of a judge — the publisher of the Trending item is identified, and everyone in the same geographic area sees the same items. Put together, the changes signaled an attempt to strike a “we publish, you decide” stance that absolves Facebook of responsibility for declaring what is and is not true. We have arrived at a strange time: Declaring what is true and real has become a political act. Profit-making companies and people are rushing to seem apolitical. That may be the real news of the moment. — Quentin Hardy  Read More [In Race Against Fake News, Google and Facebook Stroll to the Starting Line] By DAISUKE WAKABAYASHI AND MIKE ISAAC Google and Facebook emphasized their efforts to combat the spread of false articles, but industry watchers say their measures have had little impact.  ADVERTISEMENT  More From The Times [It is unclear what security measures have been put in place on President Trump’s smartphone.] [That Old Phone Trump Uses for Twitter Could Be an Opening to Security Threats] By CECILIA KANG The president has taken his Twitter habit to the White House, but it’s unclear what security measures are in place on the device. Wheels [Lu Qun, chairman of Qiantu Motor, in Beijing in December.] [China’s Answer to Tesla Is Hopeful Entrant to Global Car Market] By MICHAEL SCHUMAN Electric vehicles offer a new chance to Chinese car-making efforts that have floundered in the past. But lavish state aid could be as much bane as boon. [Using Oculus Rift virtual reality headsets at International CES in Las Vegas this month.] [Facebook’s Virtual Reality Business Gets a New Leader] By MIKE ISAAC AND NICK WINGFIELD Hugo Barra, a former executive at Google and the Chinese phone maker Xiaomi, will lead the company’s virtual reality efforts, which have faced several hurdles. Trilobites [Earth as seen by NOAA’s newest satellite, the GOES-16, in an image released on Monday.] [Better Weather Forecasts, and These Pretty Pictures, Too] By NICHOLAS ST. FLEUR NOAA released the first batch of images taken by its GOES-16 satellite, which it says is like going from black and white to HDTV.  ADVERTISEMENT  HOW ARE WE DOING? We’d love your feedback on this newsletter. Please email thoughts and suggestions to [newsletters@nytimes.com].  Street Scene [President Trump demonstrated last year how he posted tweets from a Samsung smartphone.] [It’s Time to Pull the Plug on Trump’s Tweets] By WILLIAM D. COHAN Donald J. Trump is reckless, cavalier, condescending, obnoxious and insulting on Twitter. Any other user who did that would be kicked off the service. Tech Tip [The Silver Efex Pro 2 plug-in for Adobe Photoshop, a free download from Google, helps you create vintage black-and-white looks for your digital photos.] [Shades of Gray in the Digital Darkroom] By J. D. BIERSDORFER Adobe Photoshop comes with tools to convert your standard color pictures into rich-looking black-and-white photographs.  LIKE THIS EMAIL? Forward it to your friends, and let them know they can sign up [here].  FOLLOW Bits [Twitter] [@nytimesbits] ABOUT THIS EMAIL You received this message because you signed up for NYTimes.com's Bits newsletter. [Unsubscribe] | [Manage Subscriptions] | [Change Your Email] | [Privacy Policy] | [Contact] | [Advertise] Copyright 2017 The New York Times Company | 620 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018