Facebook tried to fix its fake news problem by putting comments that included the word "fake" at the top. Software-engineering genius! Sadly it didn't work out, reports the BBC.
The trial, which Facebook says has now concluded, aimed to prioritise "comments that indicate disbelief".
It meant feeds from the BBC, the Economist, the New York Times and the Guardian all began with a comment mentioning the word fake.The test, which was visible only to some users, left many frustrated.The comments appeared on a wide range of stories, from ones that could be fake to ones that were clearly legitimate. The remarks, which would appear at the top of the comments section, came from a variety of people but the one thing that they had in common was the word fake.
@facebook Every top comment showing on a political post is 'lie' or 'fake' Is this your new get-everyone-riled algorithm or bot inundation?
— Margo B (@MargoB111) October 28, 2017
The thing Facebook will never understand is that their smartest algorithm is still dumber than the dumbest Nazi.
