Facebook warriors put Hastings in the national spotlight
There’s a lot of ‘non-factual’ information or ‘fake news’ being put in the public domain through social media groups.
That was the opinion of Russell Hall who runs the Hastings Decides 2020 Facebook group but who also keeps a tight control of what goes on within the group.
On Sunday night Mr Hall was one of a number of local people interviewed by the BBC’s Media Editor Amol Rajan on the early evening news. He conceded that social media can ‘be great’ as it allows people from all over the town to talk to each other but his caveat was that people are also consciously spreading ‘fake news’.
Watch the BBC News report by following this link…
Other local people the BBC spoke to were less diplomatic, Julie Graham says she finds a group called St Leonards on Sea is THE place to be ‘hostile’ and ‘disgusting’. Patsy Solanki says she finds some of the posts on the group ‘deeply offensive’, adding that the closer the General Election gets the ‘livelier’ the group becomes.
BBC Trending is described as the BBC’s ‘social media investigation unit’ and has been watching Hastings and Rye very closely throughout the campaign to see what effect social media has on the campaign. It is also looking at the tone of the debate that goes on within the many Facebook groups that exist.
It recently had an administrator after not having one. I have seen some sexually vulgar and highly reprehensible anti female comments from some idiot . I have seen fake news from Conservatives but not posted anything fake myself. It is a lot better than Hastings in Focus however which seems biased against Labour to me. I certainly know the Media Editor of the BBC who was asking, is very biased and did an interview with the Head of Disney recently that was so sycophantic it was unreal.
HASTINGS IN FOCUS does not show any bias …it is an online publication which appears to publish both sides of any argument…maybe its not left wing enough for you Poetrymuseum?