Facebook continues its confusing approach to fact checking with a new program that will see the appointment of a team of ‘community reviewers’, a diverse group of non-Facebook employees who will be called upon to check potentially false reports.
“The program will have community reviewers work as researchers to find information that can contradict the most obvious online hoaxes or corroborate other claims. These community reviewers are not Facebook employees but instead will be hired as contractors through one of our partners. They are not making final decisions themselves. Instead, their findings will be shared with the third-party fact-checkers as additional context as they do their own official review.”
The process will work like this:
First, Facebook’s machine learning process will identify potentially false claims and misinformation in posts, as it does already. When content is tagged as potentially false, Facebook’s system will then send the post in question on to the new team of community reviewers. The community reviewers will be prompted to check the post, and if they, through their own, additional research, find that the post is, in fact, incorrect, they’ll be able to attach their findings, which Facebook’s fact-checkers will then be able to refer to in their official assesment.
The process essentially adds a broader spectrum of input into the fact-checking process, which could improve the accuracy of the outcomes, and lessen accusations of bias.
Facebook has partnered with data company YouGov to select its new community review panel, after YouGov conducted research into how to best build such an input group.
“YouGov conducted an independent study of community reviewers and Facebook users. They determined that the requirements used to select community reviewers led to a pool that’s representative of the Facebook community in the US and reflects the diverse viewpoints – including political ideology – of Facebook users. They also found the judgments of corroborating claims by community reviewers were consistent with what most people using Facebook would conclude.”
Note the specific mention of political ideology. By enabling more people to provide input into its fact-checking process, Facebook’s working to improve both the relative accuracy of its findings, and to lessen accusations that its favoring one side of politics over another. Which has become a key sticking point in its various fact-checking and political transparency processes – which brings us to the confusing part of Facebook’s broader fact-checking improvements: its stance against fact-checking political ads.
Honestly, with every improvement, with every expansion of its overall fact-checking program, Facebook’s decision not to fact-check political ads seems less and less logical, or viable as a long-term measure.
The company continues to invest significant resources into its fact-checking program, underlining its importance – just this week, Facebook expanded its fact-checking program on Instagram.
So its clearly important, Facebook clearly acknowledges that it needs to do what it can to limit the spread of misleading information and false claims on its platform, especially when it comes to concerning movements like anti-vaxxers and the like.
Misinformation is a problem – so why allow politicians, a group which has huge influence over public opinion, share false claims within their ad content?
Facebook has previously noted that it doesn’t want to be the referee on political speech, and that the public has a right to know what’s being said by political leaders.
Enligt Mark Zuckerberg, in his speech announcing Facebook’s political ads stance:
“Political advertising is more transparent on Facebook than anywhere else — we keep all political and issue ads in an archive so everyone can scrutinize them, and no TV or print does that. We don’t fact-check political ads. We don’t do this to help politicians, but because we think people should be able to see for themselves what politicians are saying. And if content is newsworthy, we also won’t take it down even if it would otherwise conflict with many of our standards.”
But the problem, as noted, is that political leaders carry significant sway. For example, if a recognized political figure were to come out and say that, yes, vaccines are dangerous, that would add serious weight to that movement, and embolden them to push harder in their campaigning. And under Facebook’s current rules, a political leader could do just that, via Facebook ads.
Does that seem like the right approach? And given Facebook’s broader efforts to stop the spread of misinformation, including this new update, does that not seem out of step with its overall effort?
Confusing. Unclear. But, for what it’s worth, Facebook is adding in a new way to improve the accuracy of its general fact-checking by running content by a more diverse collection of reviewers. So that’s something, I guess.
Sports gambling is becoming more and more prevalent in North American sports and is now an aspect of MLB marketing so much so, that the Baltimore Orioles put a recognizable sports gambling slogan on their scoreboard.
The slogan reads: “Good teams win, great teams cover”. This refers to a team winning by enough runs to cover the spread set down by the sportsbook.
The team is sponsored by Superbook Sports, an online sportsbook that accepts bets for multiple sports. It can be assumed that the slogan is on the board due to that sponsorship.
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MLB has a long history of being fervently against sports gambling, which now seems to be changing with the times. Jacob Calvin Meyer, an Orioles reporter for The Baltimore Sun, shared an image of the slogan on the scoreboard to Twitter.
A new SuperBook Sports advertisement above the scoreboard with the slogan: “Good teams win, great teams cover.”
A new SuperBook Sports advertisement above the scoreboard with the slogan: “Good teams win, great teams cover.” https://t.co/6ucMkQ9smn
For many fans, this is a step over the line of what they are willing to accept in terms of gambling marketing. Having the reminder seen every day in the stadium is certainly a leap, which direction the leap is in is up for debate.
The slogan putting greater value on winning bets over winning games is certainly a different way to market the sport to new fans.
@jcalvinmeyer honestly, this is sickening. it’s the entirety of what’s wrong with sports gambling wrapped up in neat little ad copy
@jcalvinmeyer honestly, this is sickening. it’s the entirety of what’s wrong with sports gambling wrapped up in neat little ad copy
Increases in gambling-focused content can also be seen in the NHL and the NFL. This is not an MLB-only issue, and its severity will depend on fans who see it.
Some have no issues with it and want to see more, while others are bitterly against it. As this industry continues to grow, we will likely see more such examples of spirited fan reactions.
MLB famously suspended Cincinnati Reds legend Pete Rose from the sport for life when news of his gambling came out. As gambling becomes more accepted in American society, it will be interesting to see if their stance wavers. Obviously, there is a big difference between a fan and a player gambling, so it is unlikely his status will change at all.
Beyond sending a bad message, This makes no sense. Baseball teams need to win to cover, most people don’t mean run line when talking baseball spreads twitter.com/jcalvinmeyer/s…
A new SuperBook Sports advertisement above the scoreboard with the slogan: “Good teams win, great teams cover.”
A new SuperBook Sports advertisement above the scoreboard with the slogan: “Good teams win, great teams cover.” https://t.co/6ucMkQ9smn
Beyond sending a bad message, This makes no sense. Baseball teams need to win to cover, most people don’t mean run line when talking baseball spreads twitter.com/jcalvinmeyer/s…
Baseball is changing a lot this season and the advancement of sports gambling is certainly a part of it.
2023 will be a pivotal year for MLB
Houston Astros v New York Yankees
With all the new rules focused on improving offense and making the game faster, 2023 could be a year of explosive growth for baseball. The success of the World Baseball Classic in March primed the sports world for more baseball.
MLB will endeavor to put together the best product they possibly can for audiences old and new.
If you wanted to get some perspective on the scope of content enforcement that large digital platforms deal with day-to-day, this will help. Today, Google has published its Säkerhetsrapport för annonser 2022, which outlines all of the ads and websites that Google took action against over the last year.
And the total amount of actions taken is pretty amazing.
"Our continued investment in policy development and enforcement enabled us to block or remove over 5.2 billion ads, restrict over 4.3 billion ads and suspend over 6.7 million advertiser accounts. And we blocked or restricted ads from serving more than 1.57 billion publisher pages and across more than 143,000 publisher sites, up from 63,000 in 2021.”
5.2 billion ads. That’s ‘billion’, with a ‘b’, which is also up 2 billion on ad removals in 2021.
Among the key reasons for blocking those billions of ads were trademark violations, legal requirements and misrepresentation within the promotions.
The top reason, however, as you can see, is ‘Abusing the Ad Network’, which essentially relates to spammers and scammers trying to use the system to dupe users.
Google also restricted a range of ads in these categories:
While Google also took action against a range of websites taking part in its AdSense program, which enables publishers to display Google ads on their sites.
The top reasons for these restrictions related to inappropriate and harmful content on these sites.
It’s an interesting overview of the online ads landscape, and the scale of activity required to protect users from scams and abuse. Google’s also removed over 50,000 YouTube channels and AdSense accounts created by China-based influence operations, among others, which is a whole other element of its content enforcement activity.
Spammers and scammers are always evolving their tactics, and as you can see, they remain extremely prolific.
The numbers underline the need for platforms to say vigilant, as they work to shield their audience.
You can read Google’s full 2022 Ads Safety Report här.
Opinions expressed by Digital Journal contributors are their own.
In the fast-paced world of social media, trends can come and go in a matter of days. But amidst the potential ban of the popular app TikTok, Triller has been making headlines for surpassing 450 million users across its subsidiaries.
Triller, known as the “smash-mouth marketing” social app, made waves in 2020 when it produced the highest-grossing digital PPV of all time with the Tyson vs. Jones fight. It also became the only app to ever hit number one in 80 countries due to then-President Trump announcing an imminent ban on TikTok. While the ban never materialized, Triller was hailed as the go-to replacement app if it were to occur.
But Triller is much more than just a TikTok replacement. Unlike the closed-garden system used by social media networks such as TikTok, Triller operates under an “open-garden” system where creators receive more than 70% of the money in the influencer ecosystem. This is a game-changing approach, as less than 1% of the over 500 billion dollars spent annually in the creator economy goes to creators on other platforms like Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.
Triller’s proprietary AI toolset also ensures creators can monetize their content fully on other social networks. This means that even if creators post content on Triller, they can still benefit from it on platforms like Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, and Twitter. With Triller’s various technologies and affiliates, it’s able to produce as high as a 70% click rate, a remarkable feat in the world of social media.
Triller’s Chairman, Bobby Sarnevesht, has revealed that the platform has launched a seamless solution for users to migrate their content from TikTok to Triller via the domain transfertiktok.com. This one-click process allows users to transfer their TikTok accounts, content, and screen names to Triller in just a few minutes. This is an exciting development for Triller, as the US Government has pointed out that TikTok is, in fact, Chinese Communist Party spyware, making the ban now imminent.
Video courtesy Triller
As Triller positions itself as the go-to replacement app for TikTok, it has attracted hundreds of the world’s biggest celebrities and over 450 million registered users. In addition to celebrities driving Triller’s impressive numbers, its strategy to position itself as a music-based social media platform with a focus on creating and sharing music videos has helped attract a specific audience of music lovers who are interested in sharing their passion for music with others.
The acquisition of several other social media apps, including Verzuz, Julius, Fite.Tv and BKFC , has helped expand Triller’s user base and increase its reach, with over 2.5millon influencers connecting to 25,000 Brands and the only company to hold the unique distinction of 4 of the top 10 live shows ever held on Instagram. Furthermore, Triller’s user-friendly interface makes it easy for people to create and share videos. The app offers a range of editing tools, filters, and effects that allow users to customize their videos and make them more engaging.
While the potential TikTok ban is causing a stir, Triller is taking advantage of the situation by positioning itself as the best alternative platform for creators. As social media continues to evolve, Triller is leading the way in the new creator economy. With its focus on empowering creators and its innovative approach to monetization, Triller is a platform to watch.
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