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Misinformation, Disinformation, and Polarization

A guide to fake news, bad journalism and social media reaction

"A squirrel dying in front of your house may be more relevant to your interests right now than people dying in Africa."

- Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook

Filter Bubbles

Social media feeds and and search engine optimization have created a situation where many don't see anything (including news) that opposes their own points of view. The term "filter bubble" was first coined in 2011 by Eli Pariser when presenting a TED Talk on changes being made to Google that further personalize search results lists. In this talk, Pariser begins with Facebook as an example of the "filter bubbles" we now inhabit. 

Split Screen

Facebook’s recommendation algorithm shows different news, groups, and hashtags to different users. But who sees what? Split Screen attempts to answer that question with real world data from paid panelists as part of The Markup's Citizen Browser project. Shows two weeks of data.

Privacy Tools Online

Privacy and Notification Settings

 


Antitracking Extentions/Add-ons (for Safari, Chrome, Edge, and Firefox)

 

These examples happen to link to the Chrome Extension Store. Look for these where ever you find extensions / add-ons for your preferred browser

 

 

Distraction Free and Non Tracked Search

 

  • StartPage.com - same search results as Google but without tracking and profiling. Also distraction free and uncluttered

  • DuckDuckGo.com - same search results as Bing but without tracking and profiling

  • SimpleSearch Extension/ Add-on (Chrome and Firefox only) - This extension highlights “ten blue link”-type search results over infoboxes and other content. Works with Bing and Google.