NATION
Saturday, November 12, 2016
East Oregonian
Page 9A
Zuckerberg: ‘Crazy’ to say Facebook influenced election
By BARBARA ORTUTAY
AP Technology Writer
NEW YORK — Facebook CEO
Mark Zuckerberg says the idea
that fake news spread on Facebook
influenced the outcome of the U.S.
election is “crazy.”
Still, the majority of Americans
(six in 10) say they get at least some
news from social media, mostly
Facebook, according to the Pew
Research Center.
While a lot of this news comes
from established outlets — whether
CNN or BuzzFeed News, misinfor-
mation spreads on Facebook just as
information does, shared by users,
recommended by software and
amplified by both.
Sources of spurious information
have ranged from news articles
produced by “content farms” for
the sole purpose of getting clicks,
to “hyperpartisan” sites from both
sides of the political spectrum,
churning out stories that are
misleading at best.
Case in point: “FBI AGENT
SUSPECTED IN HILLARY
EMAIL LEAKS FOUND DEAD
IN APPARENT MURDER-SUI-
CIDE” — a fabricated headline
from a fake news site called the
Denver Guardian, was shared thou-
sands of times in the days leading
up to the election.
Is it possible that voters were
swayed for or against a candidate,
much like those same people might
buy a product after seeing an ad on
Facebook?
Zuckerberg says voters deserve
more credit.
During an interview Thursday
with “The Facebook Effect” author
David Kirkpatrick, Zuckerberg said
idea that people voted the way they
did because of bogus information
on Facebook shows a “profound
lack of empathy” for supporters of
Donald Trump.
“Voters make decisions based on
their lived experience,” he said.
Given the acerbic political
contest from which the country
just emerged, when countless
longtime friends, even family, were
unfriended, many are left to wonder
if there would be an alternative
American history being written
today if it were not for Facebook,
Twitter and the like.
This, after all, was the first truly
social media election, playing out
on Twitter and Facebook as much or
more than it did on major networks,
in living rooms and around water-
coolers.
But isn’t social media just a
reflection of our world as it exists?
Has Facebook become an easy
scapegoat when the answer is far
more complex?
While Pew found that many
believe political discussions on
social media to be “uniquely angry
and disrespectful,” a comparable
number have the same impression
of face-to-face conversations when
it comes to Democrats, the GOP, or
another party.
FILTER BUBBLE?
When it comes to Facebook
users, Zuckerberg said almost
everyone has friends on the “other
side.” Even if 90 percent of your
friends are Democrats, for example,
10 percent will be Republican.
Still, that’s not a very big number,
and the idea of a “filter bubble” —
that social media allows people to
surround themselves only with the
people and ideas with whom they
agree, has been a hot topic this
election cycle.
“By far the biggest filter in the
system is not that the content isn’t
there, that you don’t have friends
who support the other candidate or
that are of another religion,” Zuck-
erberg said. “But it’s that you just
don’t click on it. You actually tune
it out when you see it. I don’t know
what to do about that.”
A DIFFICULT LINE
Facebook has long denied that
it’s a publisher or a media company,
or that it acts remotely like either.
Its cheery slogan — to make the
world more “open and connected”
— seemingly invites a broad range
of viewpoints, diverse, lively
discussion and the free flow of
information, rather than censorship.
But it could also make clamping
down on fake news difficult. At a
time when everyone seems entitled,
not just to their own opinions, but
to their own facts, one person’s
misleading headline might be
another person’s heartfelt truth.
“We take misinformation on
Facebook very seriously,” Adam
Mosseri, the executive in charge
of Facebook’s news feed, said
in a statement to the tech blog
TechCrunch this week. “We value
authentic communication, and hear
consistently from those who use
Facebook that they prefer not to see
misinformation.”
Facebook acknowledges that it
has more work to do, and it seems
to be putting a lot of faith in the
power of data, artificial intelligence
and algorithms as the solution.
Over the summer, Facebook
fired the small group of journalists
in charge of its “trending” items
and replaced them with an algo-
rithm. The catalyst appeared to be
a report in a tech blog, based on an
anonymous source, that the editors
routinely suppressed conservative
viewpoints.
Subsequently, fake stories ahead
of the election began to trend.
Glitch made it appear
some users had died
SAN FRANCISCO (AP)
Some Facebook users received
an unsettling shock Friday,
when an unexplained glitch
caused the social networking
service to post a notice that
implied they were dead.
A number of Facebook
users reported that their profile
page on the social network
was topped with a message
that referred to them by name
— as if they were gone —
while linking to a feature that
“memorializes” the page of
someone who has died. The
message said Facebook hoped
the users’ loved ones would
find comfort in seeing posts that
others shared about them.
Even Facebook CEO
Mark Zuckerberg’s page had
the death notice for a short
time on Friday. But messages
had disappeared by midday
California time.
“This was a terrible error that
we have now fixed,” Facebook
said. The company declined to
say what caused the problem.
“We are very sorry that this
happened and we worked as
quickly as possible to fix it.”
Dear Candidates: Here’s what girls and young women think
— just as she had been
throughout the campaign.
... Yesterday, today and
tomorrow, I’m With Her.”
Associated Press
For many girls and young
women across America and
beyond, there was a hope
this week that they would see
history made with the first
woman elected president of
the United States. Now, for
some, there are tears and
disappointment — but a
desire, too, to reach out.
“To all of the little girls
who are watching this, never
doubt that you are valuable
and powerful and deserving
of every chance and oppor-
tunity in the world to pursue
and achieve your own
dreams,” Democrat Hillary
Clinton said in her conces-
sion speech after Republican
Donald Trump was declared
the president-elect.
This week, a number of
girls have pulled out their
pencils and keyboards to
write letters and blog posts
— not just to Clinton but also
to Trump, whose sometimes
harsh remarks about women
throughout the campaign did
not go unnoticed.
Here are some excerpts,
first from letters to Clinton
and the rest addressed to
Trump. The Associated
Press obtained permission
from parents and the young
authors to share these words,
along with drawings and
photographs.
Grace Songer, 13, Cold
Spring, Kentucky:
“Dear Secretary Clinton .
Thank you for allowing me
to say I remember when, for
the first time, a woman was
nominated as a major party
candidate for president. .
Thank you for planting seeds
in a garden that will flourish
from this day on, maintained
by all of the independent
women in our country and
the world. One day our time
will come, and I hope you
look back on this and feel
happy that you started, not a
revolution, but a revelation,
that we will carry on centu-
Liz Erk via AP
This photo provided by her family shows a drawing
and letter that 6-year-old Vanessa Erk of Stoneham,
Mass., wrote to Hillary Clinton after she lost the presi-
dential race to Donald Trump.
ries after 2016.”
Kaia
James,
10,
Orlando, Florida:
“I won’t let this election
bring me down. ... So please,
don’t worry — I will finish
what you started.
“There are so many girls
like me ready to speak out
and fight. You have fought
for us and now it is our turn
to fight for you.
“It’s not over yet. We’re
only getting started.”
Jules Spector, 16, New
York City:
“We all woke up this
morning with the sun — or
the clouds, if you were on the
East Coast — and the Earth
was still turning on its axis.
Thus, I have the opportunity
to say that the revolution
starts today. ... Thank you,
Hillary, for uniting so many
women and men across
the country. Thank you for
inspiring me to become a
leader.”
you do for your country’ is
hopefully going to be echoed
in households. I feel you will
put people back to work and
that is always a good thing. ...
“I feel that your victory
will return our country back
to the basic principles it was
founded on which is all men
and women are created free
and equal and possess the
same inherent, natural rights.
We will once again become
a land of opportunity. Your
acceptance speech the other
night was the start of the
unity we need. I am feeling
positive with your leadership.
America will soon be viewed
by other countries again as
‘Supreme.”’
Kayla Blas, age 16,
Pendleton, New York:
“President Elect Trump,
Congratulations! I truly
believe you are the right
person for the job!
“Today Republicans are
given an extreme stereotype.
If you’re a Republican,
you’re a bigot, you are
against gay rights, you’re a
racist, you don’t believe in a
woman’s right to choose and
you’re extremely religious
and want to impose it on
everyone else. Well, I’m
a young Republican and I
do not exactly share those
qualities. ...
“As a high school junior
and a student council
member for the past three
years, I am excited about
your presidency. My father
is a retired City of Buffalo
Firefighter and my mother
is a small business owner
in healthcare. I have seen
the struggles they’ve had
to overcome with the poor
state of our economy, and
with your election I look
with excitement towards
the future. I feel the tides
now are turning and JFK’s
famous quote ‘What can
Juna
Skrami,
21,
Loyola University student,
Chicago:
“Dear Mr. Trump, You
have instilled a fear in me
that you will never be able
to understand. I am an
immigrant and I am a woman
— two of the many groups
of people you have attacked
and degraded. ... Chicago fell
silent the . morning (after the
election). . The city seemed
to be in mourning. It is still
gloomy and there is still a lot
of fear within most of us, but
I have hope. I have hope that
we can all come together in
this time of need. I have hope
Amaya Johnson, 12,
Lansing, Michigan:
“You inspired me to look
past the sexism in this world
and stand tall and proud as
a female who is equal. ...
While we might not have
won, remember to keep your
chin up.”
that we can be joined by our
similarities, and that we can
look past our differences.
And lastly, I even have hope
for you. I hope that you can
begin to see the pain and the
fear that you are responsible
for, and I hope you can grow
from it. You have four years.
Please fix what you started.”
Sakeena Ahmed, 9, Oak
Brook, Illinois:
“Dear Mr. Donald Trump,
Hi!! I am a 4th grade Muslim
girl. ... You said you want to
make America great again.
Can you show me?! Don’t
we all have the same plan?
We all just want to live in
peace and not war! ... You
are saying we are mean and
cruel, but we are not! We
are nice and giving! You are
saying we are terrorists. We
definitely don’t do anything
that you say. ... My only wish
for you (is) to be good. And
I hope this letter does make
you good.”
Sophie Hoerst, 7, Mount
Holly, North Carolina:
“Please don’t build a
wall separating Mexico and
America. Please be the most
kind person you can be. ...
Please be a good president
and make the choices you
think are best for all Ameri-
cans.”
PRESENTS
Hannah Alper, 13,
Toronto, Canada:
“I watched (Secretary
Clinton) make her conces-
sion speech. It was hard to
watch and it was clear that
it was hard for her to make.
But there she was — strong,
inspiring and full of poise
25 TH ANNUAL
Congratulations
The Columbia Basin Board of
Realtors is a proud contributor
to your successful run for the
Sheriff’s office.
F R I D AY
DECEMBER 2
2016
PENDLETON
CONVENTION CENTER
TICKETS ARE $30
EVENING CELEBRATION | 6:00 PM
• Heavy hors d’oeuvres
FAMILY DAY | 10:00 AM - 2:00 PM
• Free admission thanks to
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• Live and silent auctions
• Mingle with community members
and enjoy the festivities!
• Lunch with Santa and his elves
• Make ornaments and playdough
• Letters to Santa
For more information, pleade contact St. Anthony Hodpital Foundation at (541) 966-0528
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