When you hear the phrase
"fake news," -you probably think of this,
right? -(Laughter) But before the president
co-opted that phrase to mean
news that he doesn't like, "fake news" meant exactly that. Deliberately false stories
posing as news. Especially in non-traditional
news sources like digital media. Fake news online
is a major problem, especially considering that two
thirds of adults in America said they get some of their news
from social media.
And the other third said
they get it from Steve Harvey, -so it's bad all around.
-(Laughter) And earlier this week,
we saw another example of online news going haywire. Well, Google and Facebook
are apologizing for amplifying
false news stories that surfaced in the hours
after the shooting. According to the Chronicle,
Google blamed an algorithm for highlighting stories that falsely identified
an innocent man as the shooter. MAN: Within hours of the attack,
Geary Danley's name and his photo were spread
across the Internet.
Our family and all of our
extended family, the Danleys, have been getting death threats,
and would like people to know that social media spun this
out of control and without seeking the truth,
have jumped to the conclusion that somehow,
our father was involved. That's right. Millions of people are now
linking an innocent man's face to a mass shooting-- which is really messed up,
when you think about it. This poor guy's walking around,
trying to live his life, with people probably
walking up to him, saying, "Hey, are you the guy
who shot everyone "and then killed himself? "Not cool, man.
Not cool. Yo, can I get a selfie
real quick? Yeah." And this story
was just one example. After Vegas,
Facebook and Google News were filled with fake news
about multiple shooters, fictional victims,
ISIS involvement, my sex tape-- all fake things,
very fake things. Especially the part
of me crying at the end.
I wouldn't cry.
Why would I cry? Come on. It's fake.
That's all you need to know. And by the way,
the fake news about Vegas is not an isolated incident. This is turning out to be a
problem across all social media.
NEWSWOMAN:
The New York Times reports... On Twitter, you had these bots,
these automated accounts that were helping
to spread fake news. Damn. So Facebook has fake news, Google has fake news,
Twitter has fake news.
Who would have thought
we'd be living in a world where Snapchat is our only
legitimate source of news? Yeah, and good luck
if you're a slow reader. "North Korea is about to..."
Aah! It's gone! It's gone! What was it gonna say?
What was it gonna say? What? Reply? Okay. (Clicks tongue)
There you go. I guess missiles for missiles.
Now, it would...
It would already be bad if all the fake news coming out from the inside
of the White House was the only thing
we had to deal with, but, as we've learned,
the Russians are also involved. And if there's one guaranteed
way to make any situation worse, just, uh, sprinkle
a little Russia over it. NEWSWOMAN: Facebook says
about ten million people saw Russia-linked ads
on its sites before and after
the 2016 election. The number of these
Russian-linked Facebook ads that did appear
during the election season were actually targeting
two key states: Michigan and Wisconsin,
those critical to Donald Trump's victory
last November.
This is unbelievable. Even the Russians knew they
had to campaign in Wisconsin. Even them.
You know what I'm thinking? If Hillary runs again, maybe she should collude
with some Russians. Maybe.
Just have them on her team. (Russian accent):
Now, remember Hill-dawg, smile and talk nice about coal. Okay, get out there!
Get out there! And now, regardless
of your politics, the reason you should care
about fake news online is because it's
not just about Russians meddling in U.S. Elections.
It's about Russians working
to divide everyone. Ads were intended to promote
divisive messages, and some even included
anti-Muslim messages. NEWSWOMAN: ...Accounts'
regularly shared content intended to deepen
the racial divide and stir up outrage. NEWSMAN: Just this past weekend,
as some NFL players protested during the National Anthem, Russian trolls flooded
social media with the hashtags, #BoycottTheNFL and #TakeAKnee.
You see? The Russians
were playing both sides. BoycottTheNFL and TakeAKnee. You can't do that.
Next, they'll be saying stuff like, ProChoiceForLIfe--
you can't do it. For more on the Russian effort
to influence American discourse, we're joined now by our
senior American correspondent, Michael Kosta, everybody! -(Cheering, applause)
-Thank you.
Thank you. -Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. -Michael...
Michael, as a...
As an American, are you worried that Russia is using social
media to divide this country? Trevor, I'm as worried
about Russia as I am this burning sensation
on my genitals. So you're very concerned, then? Uh, not at all. Usually these things take care
of themselves. But I am pissed off.
As an American, I'm not gonna
sit by and watch Russia take credit
for dividing America. You think it takes
foreign meddling to get Americans angry
at each other? The moment we meet someone,
we're like, "You're from Ohio? "Screw you, I'm from Michigan. "You're from Grand Rapids? "That place sucks.
I'm from Ann Arbor. "You're from Ann Arbor?
What's your address? "That's where I live, too.
Oh, you're my dad?
Screw you, Dad." See, Trevor, I don't need Russia
to make me hate my own dad. Okay. That got
really personal quick. But, Michael, uh, you have to admit technology
is making this worse.
Russians linked
to its government, are now using Facebook to get
Americans worked up. Yeah, you know who else
does that? My racist uncle every time
he posts on my feed. "Don't take (bleep) from that
African boss of yours, Michael." "I never would, Ralph." Look... I'm not gonna let Russia take
the credit for dividing us.
We have a rich history
of dividing ourselves. A meme didn't start
the Civil War. You think carrier pigeons were dropping these
all over the south? "Freedom should be
for everybody but that's none of my business." Okay, okay. But, Michael, come
on.
I'm sure the Russian efforts -are slightly more sophisticated
than memes. -I mean, not really. Here's a real one that Facebook
turned over to Congress. (Russian accent):
"Why do I have a gun? "Because it's easier
for my family to get me out of jail
than out of cemetery." (Normal voice): Now, if an
American had written that, it would have said the cemetery.
And cemetery would have been
spelled wrong. Here's... Here's another... (Laughter and applause) It's true.
Here's another real one. Tell me if you think
an American came up with, (Russian accent):
"In love with Texas shape." Oh, okay, Michael, look.
I get it. I get it. So, so what are you saying? Americans should just ignore
the whole thing? (Normal voice): Hell no.
We're gonna hit back hard.
We're going full on Meme War. Let me show you these dank memes
coming out of the Pentagon, another great shape. "Rolling into Russian summer
like... " (Laughter) You like that, Russia?
How about this? "I can haz borscht." Michael Kosta, everybody.
We'll be right back..
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