Are Google About To Stop RTE From Using Ad-Sense For Biased/Fake Reports?

Google and Facebook have come under huge pressure from the left in the US regarding their lack of controls over the type of news stories that "trend" and go viral. The problem being cited the most being that as almost half of Americans get their news on Facebook, a large majority of the "stories" are proven to be fake. The major story being referenced this time originated on 70news. They "reported" that Trump has not only won the electoral college but had also won the popular vote too. An amazing feat considering the votes are still being tallied and Clinton IS ahead in the popular vote. 70news is but just one example of fake news spreading however, other websites such as Infowars and The Drudge Report are infamous for spreading fake stories too. As is the New York Post and the Wall Street Journal. Notice a pattern here yet? The above publications are all right wing conservative outlets. Does that mean that the left and center are innocent of telling lies? Nope. The New York Times (a supposed bastion of truth) propagated to the world that Iraq was responsible in part for the 9/11 attacks, that Iraq had many weapons of mass destruction and that they were close to going to an all out jihad war with the west. All of this was completely false. Yet the left are suspiciously quiet when this is mentioned. All of these publications gain their "support" by doing the old trick of sprinkling in varied degrees of truth in a large portion of the stories. Infowars for example was once a proud and mostly honest publication but today it is a sounding board for insane right wing conspiracy theories and talk of "demons" "satan" and other Christian nonsense mixed with politics aimed at attacking the left or Liberals in every way possible. But what about back home? Google have announced plans to stop fake news sites from accessing Googles Ad-Sense. A move that will in no doubt hurt these sites financially. Facebook have stated they will not allow these sites to promote their stories using Facebook advertising. A move that hurts Facebook as it is they who are payed, not the publication. This all leads to a very important question however, what about BBC/RTE/SkyNews? All three of these national broadcasters are also online and are regularly found to be publishing "propaganda" pieces for their respective governments and co sponsors. From the BBCs coverage of the collapse of World Trade Center building 7 a full 20 minutes before it happened. Or how RTE reported that a "a few thousand" people had shown up to protest water charges when in fact close to 100,000 people had shown up. RTE hadn't even bothered to send reporters to the scene until being shamed all over social media. Where-as Sky is basically Englands answer to Fox News. Particularly in global news. Skys coverage of Brexit is particularly damning. Will Google now attack these companies right to use Google Ad-Sense too? Will Facebook stop allowing these companies to advertise on Facebook? In short, no they won't. And if you think this move by both Google and Facebook is anything more than just scrubbing fake news you must live in a cave. These measures are being introduced to stop the rise of alternative media sources. Yes there are many lies being told. Many fake stories being published and yes from this writers opinion, a lot of it (esp in America) is coming from conservatives with axes to grind. However, the internet has always had these websites. It always will. Any "reporter" or even social media user with half an ounce of brain power can simply research the story. A quote that gets thrown around a lot these days is "in the age of information, ignorance is a choice". In 2016 this has never been more true than it is today. And yes while there are many many fake stories out there, there are also many many true stories that the main stream media ignore out right as it does not suit their shareholders interests. Irelands complete lack of objectivity when it reports on powerful people such as Dennis O Brien or on Europe is very telling and very worrying. So the need for alternative news sources is ever present and growing. Google and Facebook are getting it in the eye right now because the establishment nominee lost. All the snowflakes have been triggered too which isn't helping the case of objectivity. But if you choose to share a story based entirely on the click bait headline without doing any research what so ever. Can Google or Facebook be held accountable? Should they be? We don't hold our national broadcasters to these high standards of truth and integrity. Why should we expect Google or Facebook to do our work and research for us? Truthful Irish

#RTE #Google #fakenews #Facebook