Photoshopped photos are now the most worrying fake news on Facebook
Edited images are spreading like wildfire on Facebook, and it's worth noting that Facebook's fake news filtering algorithms have yet to catch them.
Illustration: FAST COMPANY
According to the Technology Review news site, there is a mass manipulation weapon that the social network Facebook is struggling to combat: Photoshop.
Photo editing tools are being used extensively to fabricate and distort information online, especially on social networks.
NewspaperWall Street Journal(WSJ) presented evidence alleging that the edited images were "important and simple techniques used by Russian propaganda forces to spread disinformation during the 2016 US election".
Generally, people like pictures. Because of the saying “seeing is believing”, many people have the habit of sharing pictures on social networks instead of just writing words as usual.
Accordingly, editing images to insert fake or false information is also becoming an effective method for those who want to spread false information.
This situation is considered very difficult to prevent. Because artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms can identify objects in images, but understanding why and how those images were edited is a much more difficult task, especially when it comes to understanding the context of the photo.
Also according to WSJ, Facebook is upgrading its systems to be able to identify when images are used out of context.
However, from now until a more effective tool is available, netizens must equip themselves with the ability to doubt and criticize fake images that will continue to be spread more and more on the Internet.
