It’s Easy For Ads To Masquerade As News On Facebook

As part of our mission to detect tilted news stories and content— ones that aren’t exactly what they seem — I scrolled through my Facebook feed and reviewed my top ten trending articles. The first three, titled “Skittles,” “Troy Aikman,” and “Chelsea Clinton,” led me to The News-Gazette, 12up, and Daily Mail, respectively.

Then, I scrolled down my news feed to find the first political article that was shared or liked. It was: “Ivanka Trump’s Net Worth Left Us Speechless” by WorldLifestyle.

A simple piece, one with a buzzy headline, that would reveal Ivanka Trump’s net worth, right?

However, when I clicked the link, it led me to an article titled, “Famous Women Reveal Their Net Worth,” and the first woman who showed up was not Trump.

In fact, she didn’t appear to be anyone famous.

She’s an unnamed woman standing in front of a Porsche. A stock photo, maybe?

This article was clickbait.

You must click “Next” to see pictures and captions in a slideshow.

So I did.

And Trump wasn’t even in the slideshow.

I double-checked my clicks to make sure I didn’t accidentally skip over her.

Melania Trump came up on slide 16, but Ivanka wasn’t included in the slideshow at all.

So, the title of the piece on Facebook refers to a payoff that the reader doesn’t ever get. Indeed, it refers to someone who isn’t even included in the listicle.

It was pretty confusing.

So, I went back to the Facebook site, and noticed a small subscript under the headline. It said that the piece was “Sponsored.” (I didn’t notice this when I first saw the article.)

Back on the WorldLifestyle site, I noticed some major advertisers, including Urban Outfitters, Sprint, Adidas, Starbucks and West Elm.

I then went back to Facebook and looked further into WorldLifestyle’s official Facebook page.

It calls itself a “News/Media” publication.

According to WorldLifestyle’s Facebook page, the company offers “comprehensive guidance and inspiration” so that readers “can achieve health, beauty, and balance.”

I wondered how easy it would be to create a Facebook page and call it a news site.

It was free to set up. There are six categories which you can choose from when creating a page: Local Business or Place; Company, Organization or Institution; Brand or Product; Artist, Band, or Public Figure; Entertainment; Cause or Community.

Under Company, Organization or Institution is the subcategory, “Media/News Company” which you can click and then fill in the company name. I named my page “Reports by Char.”

This was a simple, two-step process.

And my colleague, Marc Ambinder, was able to find the page via search immediately.

Facebook has cracked down on fake news.

But what about advertising sites masquerading as news sites?