A million Facebook users watched a video that blurs the line between bad satire and ‘fake news’

A million Facebook users watched a video that blurs the line between bad satire and ‘fake news’

5 years ago
Anonymous $hM_jrxqbr-

https://www.theverge.com/2018/7/24/17607562/facebook-crtv-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-fake-interview-satire-news

A conservative news outlet spliced together a “satirical” interview with Democratic congressional candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, published it on Facebook without noting it was satire, and racked up over a million views in less than 24 hours — many from people who appear convinced it’s real. The video is fake, and for the people who are taking it seriously, it’s news. But it’s not “fake news,” and it shows just how confounding talking about misinformation has gotten.

Yesterday, Conservative Review network CRTV posted a video that remixed out-of-context clips of a PBS Firing Line interview with Ocasio-Cortez, alternating them with staged questions from CRTV host Allie Stuckey. In the fake interview, Ocasio-Cortez sheepishly shakes her head when Stuckey asks if she understands anything about politics, and she appears to think Venezuela is in the Middle East. CRTV’s website describes the piece as a “satirical sit-down” with the candidate. But on Facebook, it just said that Stuckey had grilled Ocasio-Cortez about her “socialist agenda and knowledge of government... or lack thereof,” with a winking smile emoji at the end.