I don't totally understand who would use this sort of thing. The people who would bother to install an extension that detects fake news and would even know to do so would already be able to identify news as fake much more easily than a few lines of python and a chrome extension.
I thought the problem of "fake news" was that people were forwarding it around like it's real, but no one in that chain is going to bother using anything like this, so it's not like this is a firebreak. And if you use something like this to block fake news stories and then install it on your parents' computers when you go in for tech support, they're probably going to call you and say, "Hey, how come I can't see your Uncle Stan's posts on facebook when I use that new chrome browser you installed?" (As an aside, if my kids ever installed any sort of content blocker on my computer, I would write them out of my will.)
- One is fake news outlets. Astro turfing the internet. It became a lot easier to set up new sites. And there is a big funding machine behind it (yes, Google, looking at you). The key challenge is that fake news is so much more clickable. It is constructed to be alarming. It stands out in our mostly balanced reality. The currency on the internet is attention. It got self sustaining - people were making money of it.
- One is social news. Viral forwarding. Facebook may think they are not a publisher but they build a big publishing machine ready to be taken over by the biggest bully in town. Building nukes and leaving them laying around is not responsible (yes, FB, Twitter, looking at you). There is now power with zero accountability. A feast for any bully.
Systems with almost infinite amplification are bound to blow up. We need feedback mechanisms that effectively push back. Drop fake news from search. Inform recipients that got fake news that it was fake. Decrease ability to forward fake news. Decrease ability to spread fake news by persistent multipliers. Promote properly vetted but more boring/slower stories.
Trump did not only get more attention in the MSM he also was able to use the digital airwaves in a way that drowned out any more balanced messages. His team and fans were able to use a huge lever.
My question was really who does this extension help. This sort of extension would be useful only for people who are unlikely to install it, because anyone who is aware of the phenomenon of entirely fabricated news stories can probably spot them easily. This extension seems to be aimed only at people who wouldn't know to install it in the first place or people who wouldn't want it because they enjoy the fake news for whatever reason.
I thought the problem of "fake news" was that people were forwarding it around like it's real, but no one in that chain is going to bother using anything like this, so it's not like this is a firebreak. And if you use something like this to block fake news stories and then install it on your parents' computers when you go in for tech support, they're probably going to call you and say, "Hey, how come I can't see your Uncle Stan's posts on facebook when I use that new chrome browser you installed?" (As an aside, if my kids ever installed any sort of content blocker on my computer, I would write them out of my will.)