Facebook beats Twitter at fighting fake news, a new study found

Reality has had a tough year. When the president of the United States is denying that thousands of Americans died in a hurricane, journalists face an uphill battle. That battle has been particularly fraught on social networks, where malicious actors have spent the past several years peddling hoaxes and sowing division.

But today I bring you at least one reason for optimism. “Trends in the Diffusion of Misinformation on Social Media,” a new study from authors at Stanford University and New York University, analyzed the performance of stories posted on fake news sites from January 2015 to July 2018. Here’s what they found (emphasis mine):

Interactions with these sites on both Facebook and Twitter rose steadily through the end of 2016. I…

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House lawmakers want answers from Google on censored Chinese search engine

Since news broke last month that Google is working on a censored search engine for the Chinese market, the company has faced unrelenting criticism from lawmakers. In the latest demand, a bipartisan group of 16 House representatives is looking for answers on the still-secretive plan.

To launch the project, reportedly called Dragonfly, Google would have to cooperate with the Chinese government’s strict surveillance and censorship measures, a prospect that has ignited controversy inside and outside the company. Last month, a bipartisan group of senators sent a letter to CEO Sundar Pichai about the project, but his response was blasted as insufficient.

Criticism of the company has only accelerated since….

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