Fake news got real after gunman hits pizzeria: Opinionline
What people are saying about fake news.
Petula Dvorak, The Washington Post : “An entire D.C. neighborhood was on lockdown Sunday because some dope with a gun believed a fake news story that wildly and wrongly linked a neighborhood pizzeria to a child sex ring. You could conclude that ... the 28-year-old man from North Carolina who allegedly walked into the Comet Ping Pong restaurant carrying an assault rifle, pointed it at an employee and then fired one or more shots, may be a singular nut job. ... But he wasn’t. ... A week before the presidential election, the son of retired lieutenant general Michael T. Flynn — the man President-elect Donald Trump has chosen as his national security adviser — shared the Comet Ping Pong conspiracy story (on Twitter). Thousands of others shared it, too.”
Michael G. Flynn, Sunday on Twitter: Until #Pizzagate is proven to be false, it’ll remain a story.
The (New Jersey) Record, editorial: “Fake news. It is not innocuous. It is downright dangerous. ... What happened Sunday is probably just the beginning — in a country where access to weapons is easy, social media are prevalent and divisiveness is on the rise, a bad outcome is inevitable.”
Eric Frazier, The Charlotte Observer : “OK, you don’t trust the mainstream media. I get that. You don’t trust politicians. Or big business. Or anybody in The Establishment telling you what is and isn’t true. Hey, I get all of that. Some degree of skepticism is healthy and normal. But we’re way beyond healthy and normal here. ... Are we really so desperate to be ‘right’ or on ‘the right side’ that we’ll slurp any rancid drivel that trickles across our computer screen, as long as it confirms what we already believe?”
The Sacramento Bee, editorial: “Facebook is working on technical solutions to flag fake news and soon will make it easier for users to do the same. Google has said it will ban websites that hawk fake articles from its online advertising service. Twitter, with its tendency to harbor anonymous Internet trolls, recently banned some accounts tied to the alt-right and made it easier for users to report abusive language. These strategies are a start, but this is an ongoing battle. For the sake of the republic, if not always profits, Silicon Valley must root out fake news and break down the echo chambers of information. Meanwhile, readers ... need to be a bit more skeptical.”
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