Shut Facebook down

By Oh Young-jin

At my office on Christmas Day, I received an inquiry from a reader about an article on Facebook that was attributed to The Korea Times.

I checked and found the problematic article, which by most appearances looked at first glance like an authentic and legitimate news story about an alleged biological attack in northern Seoul.

The "article," bedecked with dateline and credit, claimed that the attack triggered an evacuation and was believed to be the work of North Korean and/or British agents. It was datelined: "SEOUL, South Korea (Dec.25, 2017) and credited "Complied for The Korea Times from Agencies."

I called the writer and told him that it was not acceptable. He obliged. Minutes later, when I checked back, the attribution was changed and the Korea Herald took the fall, with the credit attributed to a gibberish name that unmistakably sounded like the name of our competition.

Then I rechecked and found the article was yanked altogether, replaced by the writer's explanation attributing the withdrawal to the fear of panic similar to that triggered by Orson Welles' radio adaption of H.G. Wells' "The War of Worlds."

Before it was removed, I posted a statement saying that it was a dangerous example of fake news and our paper reserved the right to resort to legal action against the writer. The statement was aimed at protecting our paper's reputation and the integrity of our reporting to ensure readers can count on what we say. After all, the media's primary mission is to inform the public and help it make critical decisions, perhaps including ones that can make a difference between life and death.
Understandably, there were some sympathetic posts for the writer besides rebellious and knee-jerk sniping at my post.
One may claim the fake story had parts that could signal to readers that it was not serious and intended as a prank to chase away Christmas boredom. In other words, not fake news, but a joke.

One post called it an attempt in the tradition of satirizing ― using irony, sarcasm, ridicule or the like in exposing, denouncing and deriding folly or vice. The logic goes that anybody who fails to appreciate the satirical ethos behind it should be taken to lack humor.

Another observed that it was "just" Facebook, wondering aloud who would take it seriously.

With no offense intended, we want to ask them to realize that we don't belong to the good old days of Welles, back in the 1930s. We are living in the Facebook age.

Eighty years ago in 1938, Welles was credited as a master who made gullible listeners believe his drama that an alien invasion was actually under way. Some panicky people took to the streets. I bet it was a small turnout and the level of panic it caused bordered on amusement.

Facebook is a different animal. Billions of people use it all over the world (including some in China), disgorging, regurgitating, producing and consuming "tons" of information ― some true, some false, some on the borderline, some satirizing, some libelous, some fictional, some documentary, etc. True, it is each user's responsibility to guard against falsehood in cyberspace. But it is not hard to imagine how one of those billions or two or three or thousands or millions would take one piece of (mis- or dis-)information ― false or true ― and act on it, or how it would pique herd mentality and cause a stampede ― triggering a bank run, a revolution, a stock market crash, an assassination and what not.
Sounds far-fetched? True, but these worst-case scenarios can't be ruled out when one remembers how fake news on Facebook is seen as having affected the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Here is one known case. The fake news site Denver Guardian reported that a special agent, investigating Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton's leaked email case, had committed suicide ― and it went viral. Some must have been affected to change their vote or become more convinced of their favorite, not being able to fact check it before the election three days later.

In the election, Clinton beat Republican rival and ultimate winner Donald Trump in the popular vote but lost in Electoral College tallies. The election was more of a nail biter than it looked, making one wonder whether fake news made the difference.

It is anybody's guess how many cases of fake news are circulating on Facebook and what impact they are having on our daily life.

That stream of fake news makes up for incessant voice phishing attempts to victimize any unsuspecting people, like an imposter telling a mom that her child has been in an accident and asking for a large sum of money via wire transfer. That mom would be swept by concern and send the money without thinking twice. The regret would come too late. You could be that mom.

A crisis of trust is already happening on Facebook. Dealing with this spreading cyber disease is a tall order for Mark Zuckerberg, or he is not trying hard enough for fear of damaging his internet empire. He was chided after the U.S. election and pledged to fight fake news.

The made-up story about the bio attack in Seoul is only good for reminding us of the dismal situation we are in. We never know what fake story will add a straw that can help eventually break the camel's back of trust and turn Facebook into a sea of fake news.

Oh Young-jin (foolsdie5@ktimes.com and foolsdie@gmail.com) is the managing editor of the Digital Korea Times.