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[–]neomarxist_bullshit 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Why would a VPN analyze and even modify the pages users are browsing? Just WTF

[–]penelopepnortneyBecome ungovernable[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

From the article (bold added):

Virtual private network (VPN) provider Surfshark has introduced a new feature that inserts “fake news warning” (FNW) labels next to a wide range of links in the browser including search result links and links on the websites that you visit.

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In a blog post announcing the feature, Surfshark said that its list of “untrustworthy websites” that get flagged with FNWs was taken from “Is It Propaganda Or Not?” (a site that claims to help people “understand Russian influence operations targeted at US audiences,” “identify propaganda,” and “push back”) and then reviewed by its security experts.

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Currently, Ron Paul Institute, ZeroHedge, Infowars, Natural News, and others sites are being flagged with Surfshark’s FNWs.

Free speech video sharing platform BitChute said that it was also being flagged with Surfshark’s FNWs when the feature was rolled out. However, after BitChute tagged Surfshark on Twitter and told it that “a VPN company should not try to be a nanny,” BitChute stopped being flagged with FNWs and Surfshark said it “will be updating this feature to make sure there are no false positives.”

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Based on an analysis of the sites that are being flagged, this FNW feature appears to be using two lists from Is It Propaganda Or Not? – a list titled “sites that reliably echo Russian propaganda” that was published in November 2016 and a list of outlets that it accuses of producing “large amounts of original propaganda content” that was published in March 2017.

[LOLOLOLOL]

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Surfshark cited “recent events in Ukraine” that “have thrown our world deeper into turmoil and confusion” when announcing the FNW feature and said the feature will “help anyone avoid false information on the internet.”

[No, it won't. It will make sure they only see approved false information]

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The practice of flagging online misinformation is controversial because the sources that get to define misinformation often change their definitions. For example, numerous social media users had their content and accounts censored for suggesting that COVID-19 may have originated in the infamous Wuhan Institute of Virology before it was finally admitted that this may be a possibility.