The Fake News Scam

12/14/2016 - 00h40

The fake kidnapping scam is back and terrorizing families. Even well informed and sensible people are falling prey to it. The script is well known.

The phone rings, generally late at night when the victim is unprepared. Then comes the report of a family member who has supposedly been abducted, there are confused voices in the distance, and a plea for help.

The more that the person receiving the phone call tries to confirm that they are really dealing with the case of a relative, the more information they inadvertently give to the criminal.

And the more believable he manages to become, the more effective the con will be. It isn't for no good reason that the recommendation from authorities is to immediately hang up the phone.

There is a new scam out there. The scam is fake news. In the midst of the political crisis last week, when the STF (Federal Supreme Court) was discussing the removal of the president of the Senate, Renan Calheiros, I received a message from someone close to me.

The message said it was a resend of relevant news and was entitled: "Temer holds emergent meeting with military leadership". The crass error of using "emergent" instead of "emergency" led me, after laughing some, to continue.

"In the case that senators approve measures against Lava Jato (Car Wash investigation), the Military will be called in by order of President Michel Temer (...) According to sources in Congress, Michel Temer requested a meeting with the leadership of the military forces to ask for support of his plan to combat corruption and to respond to the will of society, before chaos takes over the country (...) First of all, he will request the closing of Congress, in order to guarantee the continuity of the Lava Jato operation. Afterwards, he will invoke a military intervention so that everyone, without exception, can be investigated and brought to justice. And the military will remain in power in the country until new elections can be called."

The "news" story, consisting of a little more than 500 words went on in bad Portuguese and crudely formed ideas.

It was easy to track the origin of the message. A site from people supposedly behind the news, produced by a broadcaster and an engineer with the theme: "Our flag will never be red".

Another site has a name intended to confuse readers into thinking that they have opened the political section of Folha. In general, it reproduces news from the press, but includes misleading titles.

For example: "Lula is preparing to leave the country" declares a post, but the content doesn't support the declaration of the title.

These are only two examples of many that are circulating around out there. Despite their crude thinking and formats, they are nothing naïve. Social networks are full of traps and people making money in ethically deplorable ways.

Corporate and political communications frequently utilize robots that create fake stories and spread content on an industrial scale. This content - sometimes propagandistic, other times fake - serves interests.

Someone is paying for it and someone is getting a return from it. In many cases the return is financial, while at other times it is political or for electoral results.

Fake profiles can increase the network of followers of a certain policy or inflate discussions about specific points of view - in favor of or against a given theme. Fake news is also widely spread.

The algorithms that social networks use to define what appears on the page of each user give preference to themes that have been commented on by many people.

Because of this, money is spent to create a herd effect, where one person passes along the post of another without even really realizing what they are doing.

On November 29, "The New York Times" reported that fake news stories posted online and on social networks had a larger audience in the last few months of the US presidential campaign than legitimate articles published by the principal news organizations.

President Barack Obama complained of what he called a "cloud of nonsense" hovering over everyone.

Internet giants like Facebook and Google promised to analyze their roles in the dissemination of fake news. Google announced that it would prohibit fake news sites from using its system of online advertising.

Facebook, in addition to a similar measure, promised to study creating ways to allow users to denounce specific content.

Here in Brazil in the last electoral campaign, the manipulation of ideas, facts and images related to political figures intensified on the internet. This manipulation stimulates rumor psychology and takes advantage of it.

Scholars have pointed out that rumors, in terms of content and motivation, multiply on top of three pillars: fear, hate or desire. And these have not been lacking lately in the Brazilian sociopolitical scenario.

As an editorial in the NYT recommended, the cure for fake journalism is an overwhelming dose of good journalism. For this to work, consumers of news are going to have to be willing to look for the cure and not concentrate on the infirmity.

Translated by LLOYD HARDER

Read the article in the original language