Facebook implicated in distribution of stolen content, plagiarism

Facebook implicated in distribution of stolen content, plagiarism

About 40% of traffic to pages in 2018 went to those with content that was plagiarized or recycled, and Facebook has been slow to crack down on copyright infringement, according to internal reports. Facebook says it has taken steps to address the issues, including by removing fake accounts and reducing distribution of unoriginal news reporting.

Source: Facebook Allows Stolen Content to Flourish, Its Researchers Warned – WSJ

This article from August explains how the most viewed content on Facebook was actually stolen from other web sites and other social media platforms, and then used to sell items for profit. Fascinating. I have seen other Facebook groups that routinely steal photos and other content for “emotional” sharing, primarily to build up traffic to the hosts pages and web sites.

Unfortunately, 100% of user generated content web sites have succumbed to fake content, stolen content, misinformation, fake reviews – you name it. This the Achilles Heel of all user generated content web services.

Can it be stopped? I doubt it. Indeed, sometimes the methods of stopping it are worse – FB and Twitter are well known for blocking legitimate content, blocking accounts of actual experts for asking reasonable questions, and so on.

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