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FBI Directing Facebook and Reddit to Spike 'FAKE' News?

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+8 more 
posted on Dec, 5 2016 @ 07:55 AM
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(Please note, THIS IS NOT A PIZZAGATE THREAD. While the article is about PizzaGate and yesterday's gunman, this thread is about a federal agency's response to the publication of subject matter it does not want published. In other words, the real subject intended for this thread is a First Amendment one. Please limit your comments to that. Thanks.)



The following article ends with a very curious sentence:




“What happened today demonstrates that promoting false and reckless conspiracy theories comes with consequences. I hope that those involved in fanning these flames will take a moment to contemplate what happened here today, and stop promoting these falsehoods right away,” owner James Alefantis said in a statement today.

The retired general selected by US President-elect Donald Trump as his National Security Advisor, Michael Flynn, was one of several senior Republicans who circulated the story on social media.

The FBI and police have since instructed the completely unsubstantiated story be removed from sites such as Facebook and Reddit.

Link.



That's a curious assertion that I haven't seen published anywhere else yet.

So if the FBI is 'instructing' Facebook and Reddit to remove any mention of pizzagate, is that just really a request or something else? Maybe this is sloppy journalism?

Thoughts?

One thing is for sure, the whole 'FAKE' news debate is really changing how our country thinks about the First Amendment, wouldn't you agree?


edit on 5-12-2016 by loam because: (no reason given)



posted on Dec, 5 2016 @ 07:59 AM
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Wow. As far as I know, this is unprecedented. Perhaps ATS needs a code of its own?



posted on Dec, 5 2016 @ 08:06 AM
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"Fake news" as in news that has no facts behind it. "Fake news" or news that is false made to scam people into giving ad money by clicking links or to push dis-info to persuade people.


+16 more 
posted on Dec, 5 2016 @ 08:07 AM
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I find the "fake news" narratives timing very intriguing
How many batshyte crazy and even harmful conspiracies are out there and have been for years and yet this is when it gets shoved down our throats.

Any other conspiracies that get thrown around, fake moon landing, vaccines and autism, Obamas a gay muslim from Kenya etc etc etc are laughed off or ignored, but now we actually have the FBI dictating whats acceptable to talk about???

Im yet to hear of any site that isnt censoring this in one way or another and to me that just reinforces that it needs to be looked at



posted on Dec, 5 2016 @ 08:09 AM
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originally posted by: Pyle
"Fake news" as in news that has no facts behind it. "Fake news" or news that is false made to scam people into giving ad money by clicking links or to push dis-info to persuade people.


You mean like almost every rightwing blog that has a PayPal donation button ?


+6 more 
posted on Dec, 5 2016 @ 08:09 AM
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a reply to: loam

To be quite honest, I am very concerned about all this, frankly speaking.

The government are permitted to propagandise at the population, but private organisations, individuals, and foreign nations are prevented from countering that propaganda with their own.

If the government had never permitted their own propaganda to fly, then this situation might never have happened, but as with any illegitimate move on the part of government, it has had disastrous consequences for freedom of speech, will have disastrous consequences for freedom of the press in time, and further to that, will create the circumstances necessary for a very dangerous and dictatorial element to take hold of the country.

People in the US are famed for being afraid. They fear crime, they fear terrorism, they fear the weather, they fear anything further left than Hillary bloody Clinton (the world famous, right wing war monger). But far too few of them fear their government for the right reasons, and the reasons they ought to be terrified of their government are the same damned things that keep people slavishly in love with it. The truth is, that their propaganda has been effective. The creation of proxy armies in the middle east has made fear of other religions than their own seem sensible, when it is in fact stupid. The deliberate failure to protect the people from assaults by their paid agents has created fear of terrorism, when it is their own government who are to blame.

And all the while the propaganda, legal or otherwise keeps coming, the flames keep getting heated, until something like Pizzagate blasts onto the scene. No one has provided me with evidence to support it, and no one has provided me with evidence proving it is illegitimate. But it has gone unanswered, largely speaking as a part of a mechanism designed to show people that they are too stupid to be trusted to work out the truth for themselves, and not to worry, because the very government which is threatening their privacy, their freedom, their liberty and their lives is going to provide all the data from now on, real or fake, for the benefit of all.

It would make me laugh if it was not so patently obvious that the truth is more endangered than any species left on this world. Those who love it must be prepared to defend themselves in time to come, because soon knowing or speaking the truth, will be far more dangerous an occupation than any currently on offer at the local labour office.



posted on Dec, 5 2016 @ 08:13 AM
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a reply to: IkNOwSTuff

If the article is correct in its characterization, it is worrisome given our political climate.

One thing I haven't clearly understood about the left's perspective on this is if they think 'fake' news must be stopped...and they also think Trump is an authoritarian...why hasn't it occurred to them that what they wish for may eventually come back to bite them in the ass?

Am I the only one baffled by this?



posted on Dec, 5 2016 @ 08:19 AM
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originally posted by: loam


One thing I haven't clearly understood about the left's perspective on this is if they think 'fake' news must be stopped...and they also think Trump is an authoritarian...why hasn't it occurred to them that what they wish for may eventually come back to bite them in the ass?


I imagine the left's persective varies according to the individual. I am left-leaning and believe there is something very sinister that needs to be investigated and, if found to be true, punished to the fullest extent of the law.

I don't think all the alleged perps are democrats, btw.

Edit to add: People are the ones responsible for what they choose to publish and what they choose to believe. No information should be censored. I don't think "fake news" should be censored. But hope enough people out there are willing to check facts before allowing themselves to be carried away.

The real media is the one working everyone up, anyway.
edit on 5-12-2016 by zosimov because: (no reason given)


+14 more 
posted on Dec, 5 2016 @ 08:21 AM
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a reply to: loam

Once you establish a precedent for censorship, and you have the popular backing of media outlets, then free speech is dead.



posted on Dec, 5 2016 @ 08:24 AM
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a reply to: loam

That's an odd sentence. Law enforcement doesn't have the authority to "instruct" them to remove anything. They can request and ask, but they can't instruct.

I did some poking around on google and another article said that the FBI was "pressuring" Facebook and Reddit, and I'd be curious to know what kind of pressure that was.



posted on Dec, 5 2016 @ 08:25 AM
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a reply to: zosimov

I don't think you understood my point.

The entire FAKE news narrative and the call to end it has come from Hillary supporters....then in the same breath have claimed Trump is a dictator in the making. What I was essentially saying is why don't they see the peril of those two positions?

If or when Trump starts censoring stories the left supports, haven't they already created the bed they will lay in?

edit on 5-12-2016 by loam because: (no reason given)



posted on Dec, 5 2016 @ 08:26 AM
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a reply to: Shamrock6

Can you post a link to that?

I'd like to see it.



posted on Dec, 5 2016 @ 08:28 AM
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a reply to: DBCowboy

We really seem to be dangerously close to that, don't we?



posted on Dec, 5 2016 @ 08:29 AM
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a reply to: loam

Well that's not entirely true, is it? Plenty on the right have been calling MSM fake news for some time now.

But my main point was that there is no homogenous perspective on the left, or the right.

There are many different perspectives, I imagine. I'm not sure who holds the opinion you propose, but am sure it's out there. People (of all political affiliations) tend towards hypocrisy often.

Hope that helps.
edit on 5-12-2016 by zosimov because: (no reason given)



posted on Dec, 5 2016 @ 08:30 AM
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a reply to: loam

It was just a highlighted article that came up in one of the searches I did, it'll take a minute to figure out what search it was under but I'll try to find it.



posted on Dec, 5 2016 @ 08:30 AM
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a reply to: ErrorErrorError

I dont know do they push news they made up to push a false narrative or to get ad money?


+2 more 
posted on Dec, 5 2016 @ 08:34 AM
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a reply to: loam

The very fact that MSM yells and screams ( Ie Jake Tapper or Joe Scarborough) this is FAKE before they even report the gunman story tells me theres something more. Then add that the FBI has essentially mandated censorship of a topic ( over one bullet being shot in the floor of a pizza joint?!) , its all wrong wrong wrong.



posted on Dec, 5 2016 @ 08:34 AM
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a reply to: zosimov

I see your point to some degree.


But since HRC's loss, I have seen many on the left, including her campaign, that directly blamed FAKE news (by the Russians, Wikileaks or conservatives) and called for a 'solution' to that problem.

Here is a good example:

**Warning: Strong Language**


edit on 5-12-2016 by loam because: (no reason given)



posted on Dec, 5 2016 @ 08:38 AM
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a reply to: loam

Very slippery slope I'd say.

I definitely disagree with those people's perspective (fake news narrative), and am quite worried about the implications.





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