The new rules in place by Congress to combat online ads that promote terrorism, hate speech, or other inflammatory content may have gone a long way in preventing more ads like the one featured by a prominent right-wing media group on CNN.
But the Trump administration’s latest directive could do even more damage to the public’s trust in mainstream news organizations.
The Trump administration has been cracking down on fake news since taking office.
But in a move that could be the biggest blow yet to the integrity of our democracy, the new rules would make it more difficult to monitor the reach of fake news on social media.
The administration has also proposed a new tool to monitor fake news online: the Direct Response Advertising Program (DRAP).
As NPR’s David Folkenflik reported, the program would require a third-party company to run advertisements that would appear on CNN and other news outlets.
These ads would typically run only in certain geographic areas and have a “skewed” message, so that the fake news appeared to be coming from a different source.
The program also would allow the advertising to run in certain “hot spots” in certain areas, according to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
But that program is just the beginning of the administration’s push to limit the reach and influence of fake information.
The administration has signaled that it will be looking at other tactics to combat the spread of false news.
The White House Office of Management and Budget announced a plan to create a task force to study the spread and spread of fake content on social networks.
And the Trump Administration’s budget director, Mick Mulvaney, told NPR that the Department of Homeland Security would be developing a program to “monitor and prevent content that appears to be originating from outside the United States.”
The administration’s plan also calls for the creation of a “digital counter-spreading” program to help monitor fake information on social platforms, including Facebook, Google, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and Reddit.
These efforts would be focused on identifying and stopping fake news before it reaches people on social networking sites, but they could also include the use of digital ad technology, including bots and automated social-media ads.
And the White House has been working on its own strategy to combat fake news.
Last month, the White Newswire published a list of ways in which fake news can be used to spread false or misleading information.
And in May, the administration published a set of recommendations to address fake news that it says are “misleading, false, misleading, deceptive, or otherwise misleading.”
These include “creating new standards to prevent the spread or propagation of false or deceptive news,” “promoting information that is not accurate or otherwise not relevant to the news or events being covered,” and “implementing a robust response process to flag false or false news.”
The Trump Administration has also been looking at ways to combat social media misinformation.
In June, the president signed an executive order that gave the Federal Trade Commission the authority to take enforcement action against companies that peddle false information online.
The White House’s DRAP initiative will make it harder for journalists to keep tabs on fake information, particularly if it appears on social-news platforms.
And it may also give other political operatives more room to spread fake news, as the Trump White House recently made clear in a tweet about the CNN ad.
“Fake news and false-flag terrorism are on the rise, and our country faces a growing number of threats that threaten the public safety and well-being,” the tweet said.
“The new Direct Response Ad Program will help to combat false- and misleading-propaganda online.”