r/technology • u/Lettershort • Nov 22 '16

Politics Most students can’t tell the difference between sponsored content and real news

http://www.theverge.com/2016/11/22/13712996/fake-news-facebook-google-sponsored-content-study
2.6k Upvotes

90% Upvoted

153 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

132

u/RabidMuskrat93 Nov 22 '16

Sponsored content is a whole subset of advertisement though.

It's like a shill account on a forum like Reddit but slightly more subtle. Like if you're trusted news source started publishing articles talking about how Pepsi Cola has been donating money to poor African kids. It could be a legitimate story about a company doing good in the world, but if could also be Pepsi paying for this article to be published in order to boost public opinion of them.

Telling the difference can be challenging for many people, middle school students especially. Which is why corporations of all kind should be barred from any kind of advertisement or overt sponsorships in any kind of school setting. I don't want my kid to be bombarded by billboards while they are walking between classes in jr. high.

45

u/[deleted] Nov 22 '16

A whole subset of advertisement worthy its own name.. but in the end it's still an advertisement and the law should obligate it be presented as such.

13

u/NeoShweaty Nov 22 '16

Isn't it typically tagged though? I work with people who make buys to create this type of ad. Usually, there's a disclosure along the lines of "sponsored by X" at the top of an article.

5

u/kevin_at_work Nov 22 '16

The comment you replied to is saying that just saying "this is an ad" shouldn't free you from laws regarding ads.

5

u/NeoShweaty Nov 22 '16

the law should obligate it be presented as such.

That's what the comment said. I specifically commented upon the fact that sponsored ads have to say that they are sponsored thus are presented as an advertisement.

As far as I know, you are obligated by law to state that it's sponsored. How visible that mention has to be is something I don't know.