Blog Post #4

We have all come across news on social media that may have been false or loop into clickbait. Facebook has taken action to remove the misinformation and fake news that floats all over the news feeds of its users. The company has taken action against the accounts spreading this disinformation. Even though they have taken action against this situation, there was a loophole that had been discovered and that is editable link previews. Link previews are the embeds that pop up when you post a link on Facebook. This acts as clickbait and makes people want to click and read about it, or just see the headline and immediately send the information around. Any user who posted a link on Facebook was able to edit the image, headline, and description to whatever they wanted, before posting the link publicly. Facebook decided to end the ability for users to edit link previews. By doing this, a channel of fake news is being eliminated. This feature has resurfaced since 2017, which gave users the ability to edit the link previews again. 

It is so common to come across news on the internet and no one ever knows if it's a valid source or not. People are so quick to judge, make accusations and believe everything they read on the internet. It is so important to know how easy it is to create false links full of information that isn’t valid. In these situations, people and events are talked about in a negative light and have hurt many people. When people on the internet get wind of some "juicy tea" (as us millennials like to say), regardless if it's real or not, they are quick to talk about it before checking the facts first.