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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!
 

Faith in The Process

The elections just couldn't be contained in it's own week with recounts still ongoing and several elected positions still uncertified. Do late counts favor Democrats because of larger more complex urban area voting or is there a history of foul play? Meanwhile claims of voter fraud are being made along with court battles on both sides. In races from California, to Georgia, to Florida, provisional ballots continue to be legal and ethical sticking points. Are voters starting to lose faith in the election process?
 

The deadliest fire in California history has not yet been contained and continues to add to the death toll. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is busy denying a New York Times report that he knew about the hiring of a PR firm that traffics in disinformation and targeted Jewish billionaire philanthropist George Soros (more on that below.) Amazon announced it's two new headquarters with criticism that the whole selection process was a scam. So much happened that the biggest headline and most important questions we were asking ourselves for weeks about journalist Jamal Khashoggi's murder, we left buried. The U.S. administration imposed targeted sanctions and Saudi Arabia is likely going to execute individuals involved in Khashoggi's murder.

Oh yeah, and Stan Lee, one of the biggest influences in American pop culture, died this past week at 95.    
  
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!

The president of George Soros' Open Society Foundation issued a letter to Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg expressing concern over a New York Times report that Facebook hired a Republican-oriented PR group that reportedly singled-out Soros as "the unacknowledged force behind what appeared to be a broad anti-Facebook movement." "There is a concerted right-wing effort to demonize Mr. Soros." the letter said. "which has contributed to death threats and the delivery of a pipe bomb to Mr. Soros’ home."

Did Facebook knowingly target Mr. Soros to discredit criticism against them? 

‘Fake band’ Threatin just played a UK tour to… pretty much no-one

LA metal band Threatin landed a UK tour based on what seemed like a strong internet following. Despite tens of thousands of Facebook likes and YouTube views, Threatin played to completely empty houses. Venue owners later discovered that all of the band's internet following was fake and paid for, including "live" videos on YouTube. Front man Jered Davis later posted "What is Fake News? I turned an empty room into an international headline. If you are reading this, you are part of the illusion."

Will this fake news scheme end up getting Threatin gigs?
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Homeless veteran and New Jersey couple arrested in GoFundMe scam

A heartwarming "good Samaritan" tale of a New Jersey couple that raised money for a homeless veteran had ended with indictments of all involved. Katelyn McClure and her boyfriend, Mark D'Amico started a GoFundMe campaign for Johnny Bobbitt last year after sharing a story of how he supposedly offered his last $20 to help McClure when her car ran out of gas. The fundraiser collected over $400,000. But prosecutors now say it was all a scam from the beginning.

Are a significant number of GoFundMe campaigns a scam?

Jack Dorsey thinks Twitter needs to gauge the intent of fake news before taking action

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, speaking at the Indian Institute of Technology, said “fake news as a category or misinformation as a category is just way too big” because fiction and jokes could be considered misinformation. He says the job of platforms like Twitter is to pick out the intent to mislead, make sure it doesn't spread, and “to make sure that it doesn’t gain in impressions beyond its earned reach.” India has recently seen deadly violence related to fake news.

Can Twitter identify the intent behind tweets at scale?

Bitcoin scam: Google G Suite's Twitter account gets hacked

Hackers breached an official Google account on Twitter to promote a Bitcoin giveaway scam to its 800,000 followers, only hours after Target’s account was also hacked. The official G Suite account tweeted that Google is giving away 10,000 Bitcoin. “We decided to make the biggest crypto-giveaway in the world”, the tweet read. After the Target hack, Twitter said that it has improved how it handles crypto scams and that it intends to continue to invest in tools to better handle span in the future.

Is it Twitter’s responsibility to protect users against scams and hackers?

Facebook Watch gets a new news show to tackle "fake news"

In its latest attempt to tackle fake news, Facebook is launching a news show for its mobile video-on-demand service Facebook Watch. Uncovered, produced by the news division at UK commercial broadcaster Channel 4, will release a 10-minute-long episode every week focused on a single topic. It launches in 2019. The show joins other current affairs programs from US networks like CNN and Fox News as part of Facebook’s commitment to funding “trustworthy, informative and local” news.

Would you trust news produced by Facebook?
Top SNiPs Weekly Recap
The SNiPs below, which are all accompanied by one to three questions you can answer anonymously in the SUJO App, are the top SNiPs of the week. They are a combination of the SNiPs with the most views and most interactions.

Top Journalist SNiPs of the Week
Journalist SNiPs are fact-checked before posting to ensure minimal to no bias. The claims made are independently verified by multiple publications. Journalist SNiPs are labeled blue.
1) Fire-besieged California hits back at Trump over blame tweet
2) White House Issues New Rule for Asylum Seekers
3) Trump endorses bipartisan criminal-justice reform bill

Top Influencer SNiPs of the Week
Opinionated influencer SNiPs are not fact-checked, but our curators typically post a counter-point. Influencer SNiPs are chosen to show diverse opinions from influential people. Influencer SNiPs are labeled magenta in the app.
1) Democrats won the House, but Trump won the election
- Counter SNiP: Amazon’s HQ2 Spectacle Isn’t Just Shameful—It Should Be Illegal
2) Democrats: ‘If We Lost, the Voters Must Be Racist’
- Counter SNiP: Stacey Abrams, Brian Kemp and Neo-Jim Crow in Georgia
3) Here are 5 reasons why Matthew Whitaker isn't attorney general material
- Counter SNiP: Matthew Whitaker is an excellent choice to lead Justice Department

Top User SNiPs of the Week
User SNiPs are not fact-checked or curated by SUJO. User SNiPs can be posted by anyone from the community. User SNiPs are labeled green in the app.
1) Trouble Ahead For Trump? Robert Mueller Is Reportedly Ready To Unleash ‘Dozens Of Sealed Indictments’ - user: trehuger
2) Marvel Comics Co-Creator Stan Lee Dead at 95
 - user: Nikki89
3) Has a new racing ban doomed these dogs?
- user: Saltydog
 
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