It’s not about us knowing more today with hindsight about smoking, it’s about any company (it still happens today in traditional as well as online media) blatantly stating lies such as "independent" surveying by an agency which they employed. It clearly was intended to impress with skewed "fake facts".
So fake news is not at all a recent phenomenon because of the Internet. It has been around for decades but should any organisation be allowed to get away with such deliberate and deviously crafted messaging? We’ve seen it rearing its head around the green environment and all sorts of other organised lobbying. Some of it is calculated to push specific buttons to enrage or panic readers into creating viral reshares.
It’s not actually an easy thing to legislate as people’s beliefs differ but one would hope facts are facts. Principles such as stated "independent research" should really be independent with no funding from the research subject (which has not been the case even for universities).
So yes maybe the Tim Berners-Lee initiative to create "The Contract for the Web" is a step in the right direction but even though Google, Facebook and others are signing it I’m not sure how it will be policed and what teeth it will actually have to protect ordinary Internet users.
Our best weapon is to remain aware, question what we see, and don’t reshare fake news.
See https://flashbak.com/when-tobacco-companies-used-doctors-to-sell-cigarettes-421928/
#technology #fakenews
#^When Tobacco Companies Used Doctors to Sell Cigarettes – Flashbak
In 1991, the ongoing scandal of cigarette advertising in the U.S. reached an ugly climax, after decades of deception, when the American Medical Association revealed findings that young children more easily recognized Camel mascot Joe Camel than characters like Barbie or Mickey Mouse. The revelation ended the Joe Camel campaign. It also marked the … Continue reading "When Tobacco Companies Used Doctors to Sell Cigarettes"