Tag: Social Media

Left works to stifle conservative speech on social media. #Ingraham #FoxNews FOX News operates the FOX News Channel (FNC), FOX Business Network (FBN), FOX News Radio, FOX News Headlines 24/7, FOXNews.com and the direct-to-consumer streaming service, FOX Nation. FOX News…

WASHINGTON — The American public holds negative views of social-media giants like Facebook and Twitter, with sizable majorities saying these sites do more to divide the country than unite it and spread falsehoods rather than news, according to results from the latest national NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. But the public also believes that technology in general has more benefits than drawbacks on the economy, and respondents are split about whether the federal government should break up the largest tech companies like Apple, Amazon, Google and Facebook. “Social media — and Facebook, in particular — have some serious issues in this poll,” said Micah Roberts, a pollster at the Republican firm Public Opinion Strategies, which conducted this survey with the Democratic firm Hart Research Associates. According to the poll, 57 percent of Americans say they agree with the statement that social media sites like Facebook and Twitter do more to divide the country, while 35 percent think they do more to bring the nation together. Fifty-five percent believe social media does more to spread lies and falsehoods, versus 31 percent who say it does more to spread news and information. One variable, however, is age — with younger poll respondents less likely to believe that social media divides the country and spreads unfair attacks and rumors. Just 6 percent say they trust it either “a lot” or “quite a bit.” By contrast, the percentage of Americans not trusting companies or institutions with their personal information is lower for Amazon (28 percent), Google (37 percent) and the federal government (35 percent). Overall, 36 percent of adults view Facebook positively, while 33 percent see it negatively. “But for companies, you’d think these ratings would be [more] on the positive side.” Down on social media, but upbeat about technology Despite these sour attitudes about social media, the NBC/WSJ poll shows that Americans are upbeat about technology in general. Fifty-nine percent of respondents agree with the statement that technology has more benefits than drawbacks, because it means products and services can be cheaper and made more efficiently.

Social media has changed the way many of us roll with the days' news, personal events, entertainment, religion and politics. Have you ever unfriended someone on Facebook because of a political point-of-view post or comment? Facebook users have unfriended, unfollowed, unliked and even blocked close friends and family over political posts. "There are times when I deactivate my social media or delete or block a social media 'friend' due to divisive, negative energy," said Vena Heiskell of Central Florida. "Also, when a social media 'friend' repeatedly posts political content that can be hateful, polarizing and judgmental of those that may have different views, I won't engage with them. Barnes, who holds two degrees in psychology said, "While I don't believe you should unfollow anyone simply because of differing views, I do believe that it is emotionally unhealthy to inundate yourself with posts that cause you distress. If that means unfriending, unfollowing or muting the feed of someone who you know personally, so be it!" An unfollow on the Internet doesn't automatically mean that you are discarding the person in life, stresses Barnes. "It is simply exercising your right to protect your mental health by choosing what you ingest on the Internet. Many people successfully preserve certain personal relationships by distancing themselves on social media."

To recklessly throw around claims of voting fraud is to play a dangerous game that could do lasting harm to our democracy. NPR pointed out a recent high-profile example recently: Asked about the absentee ballot tampering in North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District that has prompted a new election, President Donald Trump gave an answer designed to confuse. Despite such frequently repeated claims of massive problems, the evidence shows that outright voter fraud is rare in this country (so rare that a commission appointed by Trump to investigate fraud in the 2016 election was disbanded with no results to show for its efforts). The charges involve illegally obtaining and altering absentee ballots, and the improprieties benefited a Republican candidate. Rather than worrying about actual absentee ballot tampering in Bladen County, some Republicans in the North Carolina legislature have been using false and vague charges of voter fraud to try to win support for suppressing minority voters. People in both parties can play the game. Some Democrats use emotionally loaded words such as “purge” to exaggerate such procedures as challenging registrations. We’re already seeing the hard-won gains in voting rights for minorities being eroded because of fears. We have to contend with Russians and others manipulating social media to make us lose faith in our system. We don’t need our political leaders further whipping up divisions and doubts with reckless and misleading rhetoric.

The saddest thing about the Saskatchewan Party’s recent negative political advertising isn’t that it’s a reflection of today’s social-media-driven political debate (although today’s social media surely isn’t helping this age-old problem). If one is ever inclined to see what it’s like living with a partisan mindset, follow a few old political warhorses on Twitter … or perhaps even a few current politicians emboldened by the notion that decency and good grace are no longer qualities voters want. Conservative, Liberal, NDP … it really doesn’t matter the party. What they’ve always shared is a core belief that enraging, engaging and mobilizing a support base is more critical than some “subjective” view of what’s true. Social media is often selling angry, half-truths in a dark, petty way, but this is what negative political advertising has always been. After all, Meili did say Saskatchewan should “consider a modest carbon tax” made in Saskatchewan, which would still put him in the camp envisioned by federal Environment Minister Catherine McKenna. And Meili did call the federal court case (and the Saskatchewan government’s general opposition to the federal Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act) “a pointless crusade.” The anti-pipeline rally Meili attended before he was an MLA was to protest the Husky oil spill in the North Saskatchewan River and the doctor mostly talked about preventing negative health outcomes. And there was nothing more hypocritical or misleading in this Sask. Party ad than its line: “When it was time to fight Trudeau’s equalization plan that hurts provinces like Saskatchewan, he didn’t say anything at all.” A dozen years ago, the NDP government, the Saskatchewan Party Opposition and the federal Conservative Opposition were in 100 per cent agreement that non-renewable resources should be removed from the equalization formula — a questionable national strategy, but one that would have provided Saskatchewan with $800 million more annually in federal transfer payment revenue. The really sad thing is we still have negative political ads because they still work … perhaps better than ever.

Covington high school students reeling from being smeared by the media, some figures refusing to apologize. #Tucker #FoxNews FOX News Channel (FNC) is a 24-hour all-encompassing news service dedicated to delivering breaking news as well as political and business news.…

“I like the way it breaks down into fiction and nonfiction. In other words, these people are lying, and these people are telling the truth. There’s reason to worry that science and medicine may suffer the same fate, and we need to prevent that because, quite literally, our lives depend on it. You’ve likely heard some of the more infamous examples of medical and scientific untruths spreading: claims that vaccines cause autism, miracle diets, and natural “cures” to incurable diseases. Communications through pre-existing social networks are typically more trusted than information from impersonal sources. Now, Americans can select news feeds from thinly parsed media channels. We need to understand the importance of the source of information, distinguishing characteristics of legitimate authority, how conflicts of interest can alter what is studied and what is reported, and how our own biases can alter what we hear — all the skills of good and trusted journalists, not Twitter bots. The world is threatened enough when political lies are accepted as truths. Our health is threatened when misinformation passes as science or medicine. For our own safety, we need to be able to tell the difference between science and science fiction.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Russia’s sweeping political disinformation campaign on U.S. social media was more far-reaching than originally thought, with troll farms working to discourage black voters and “blur the lines between reality and fiction” to help elect Donald Trump in 2016, according to reports released Monday by the Senate intelligence committee. The two studies are the most comprehensive picture yet of the Russian interference campaigns on American social media. The Senate panel has been investigating Russian interference on social media and beyond for almost two years. Intelligence committee Chairman Richard Burr said in a statement that the data shows how aggressively Russia tried to divide Americans by race, religion and ideology and erode trust in institutions. One major takeaway from both studies is the breadth of Russian interference that appeared on Instagram, which is owned by Facebook and was not frequently mentioned when its parent company testified on Capitol Hill. The study says that as attention was focused on Facebook and Twitter in 2017, the Russians shifted much of their activity to Instagram. “Instagram was a significant front in the IRA’s influence operation, something that Facebook executives appear to have avoided mentioning in congressional testimony,” the researchers wrote. The Russians’ attempts to influence Americans on social media first became widely public in the fall of 2017. Other findings in the studies: — During the week of the presidential election, posts directed to right-leaning users aimed to generate anger and suspicion and hinted at voter fraud, while posts targeted to African-Americans largely ignored mentions of the election until the last minute. — Facebook posts linked to the IRA “reveal a nuanced and deep knowledge of American culture, media, and influencers in each community the IRA targeted.” Certain memes appeared on pages targeted to younger people but not older people.

A new study by psychologists at the University of Pennsylvania finds that Facebook use can increase depression and loneliness; Tucker gets insight from Tom Kersting, author of 'Disconnected: How to Reconnect Our Digitally Distracted Kids.' FOX News Channel (FNC) is…

Removing the 'like' button from Twitter is like removing seatbelts on the Hindenburg. FOX News Channel (FNC) is a 24-hour all-encompassing news service dedicated to delivering breaking news as well as political and business news. The number one network in…