That’s a question being considered by the High Level Expert Group on Fake News — a European Union commission that held its first session yesterday. It was created to assess the threat of “fake news” and to make recommendations about fighting it.

Establishment of this panel is just the latest in a series of efforts by European governments to curb the influence of misinformation. Another is a controversial proposal from French President Emmanuel Macron to give regulators in his country broad powers to limit and censor information “controlled or financed” by foreign governments. It has prompted a variety of organizations, including Reporters Without Borders, to complain that enactment of such a law could result in censorship of legitimate satire and investigative journalism.

Throughout 2017, social media companies faced a wave of legal actions across Europe, where privacy regulations are much stricter than in the U.S. Some countries, such as Germany and Britain, have passed laws allowing fines against social media networks for failure to remove misinformation and hate speech.

• Note: Last Wednesday, Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released a report by the panel’s Democratic staff that detailed Russian-sponsored hacking, disinformation and finance campaigns to interfere in elections in 19 European countries, including Britain, Germany, France, Finland and Estonia. 
• Discuss: Should governments pass laws against “fake news” and other forms of ideological interference by foreign powers? Why or why not?
  • Idea: Use these two opposing opinion pieces from Politico’s Matter of Debate series to facilitate a debate in your classroom:
    • “Macron’s fake news law will protect democracy” (Aurore Belfrage)
    • “Macron’s fake news law will threaten democracy” (Alberto Alemanno)
• Related: “Toxic content on the web: The answer is education, not regulation” (Sam Wineburg, The Hill)

Viral rumor rundown

• NO: Instagram does not strategically withhold notifications for “likes” from its users to make them check the app more often.
• NO: A man did not try to cut an 11-year-old girl’s hijab in Toronto on Friday. The alleged attack was widely condemned by public figures — including Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau — before being exposed as a hoax.
• NO: Dolly Parton did not say that wildfires, widespread sexual abuse scandals and other “epidemics” in California were punishment “for embracing Satan and rejecting God.”
  • Note: This rumor is from a fictional “report” that was published by a clickbait website shortly after the word “Dixie” was removed from the title of Parton’s dinner theater show, Dolly Parton’s Stampede.

• YES: Shane Missler, a 20-year-old from Port Richey, Fla., was the sole winner of the recent $450 million Mega Millions jackpot. NO: He is not offering $5,000 to the first 50,000 people to retweet a post; the account from which that tweet was sent is a fake.
  • Note: "Engagement-bait" on social media is sometimes used to cultivate large followings for paid marketing campaigns.
• YES: In remarks at the White House last Wednesday, President Donald Trump announced the delivery of fighter jets to Norway — including F-52s, which exist only in the video game “Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare.” NO: There is no evidence that the president plays or is otherwise familiar with the game; he likely conflated the total number of planes in the sale (52), which he mentioned later in his remarks, with the “F” designation used for fighter planes.
• NO:  The U.S. Army has not created a new military occupational specialty of “holistic medic” to offer soldiers homeopathic and other “natural” treatments.
  • Note: This rumor originated in an item posted on Duffel Blog, a military satire site.
• NO:  Ivanka Trump is not pregnant. YES: Last Wednesday, as a birthday message to her husband, she tweeted a picture of the couple from 2016 in which she was pregnant.
• YES: This year’s strain of the influenza virus is particularly hazardous and widespread. NO:  You (still) cannot get the flu from this year’s versions of the flu vaccine (which use an inactivated, or “dead,” dose of the virus). NO: There is no evidence that the flu vaccine is otherwise harmful or hazardous to your health.
  • Note: Variations of baseless rumors about the flu vaccine circulate every flu season.

• Note: These changes highlight the importance of news literacy education, the need for students to explore the role that civility plays in civics, and the role that individual Facebook users can play in curating and sharing pieces of quality journalism with their friends and family members.
• Discuss: What is the relationship between civility and journalism? Do facts held in common promote civility, or does civility promote the acceptance of facts held in common? What do you think the effects of the changes announced by Facebook last week will be? Why?
• Idea: Discuss the changes announced by Facebook with students, then teach them how to turn the platform’s ranking algorithm off and view an account’s News Feed by chronology instead:

To turn off Facebook’s ranking algorithm and view, in reverse chronological order, the posts shared by friends and by pages that you follow, select Most Recent from the News Feed dropdown menu.

• Act: Have students create a log or journal that helps people reflect on and compare their Facebook experiences with the News Feed turned on and off. Then ask students to either complete such a reflection exercise themselves or ask a family member to do so. What patterns emerge? What insights might these patterns offer?
• Related:
  • “In Some Countries, Facebook’s Fiddling Has Magnified Fake News” (Sheera Frenkel, Nicholas Casey and Paul Mozur, The New York Times)
  • “Can civility save journalism? 5 good questions with researcher Ashley Muddiman” (Jane Elizabeth, American Press Institute)
    • Discuss: What effect can our information choices have on the level of civility in public discourse??
  • “How the Public Fueled Our Investigations in 2017” (Terry Parris Jr., ProPublica)
    • Note: This article discusses how journalists can collaborate with informed and engaged news consumers to improve coverage.
    • Discuss: How can students engage and connect with journalists in their communities?