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Facebook Takes Swipe at Clickbait, Critics in New Guide

Facebook appears be hitting back at one of its foremost online critics.

The social media company announced Thursday that it would be changing its algorithm to weed out so-called “clickbait” headlines – an expected announcement following months of reports that Facebook is buckling down on what it calls "inauthentic" content.  What was a tad unexpected, however, was the example clickbait that the company opted to use in its “best practices” page for media.

Here is that example:

https://twitter.com/BylineGillian/status/761369486419107840

Eagle-eyed observers might notice that the dummy newsite pictured is Gizmotecho, a name uncannily similar to Gizmodo, a tech website that has been critical of Facebook and was the first to break the story about former Facebook employees claiming to censor conservative news posts (a story Facebook has denied).

Facebook was called out on Twitter for apparently “throwing shade” at Gizmodo for its brand of journalism. NBC Bay Area reached out to Facebook for comment, but the company did not immediately respond.

Gizmodo also noticed the striking similarity and has seemingly taken it as a thinly-veiled jab, writing a separate article titled “Hey Facebook, It’s Spelled G-I-Z-M-O-D-O.” But, of course, it didn’t end there. 

https://twitter.com/katiedrumm/status/761317468006645761

The tech site then decided to purchase Gizmotecho’s domain name and have it redirect right back to the original article about Facebook censorship.

All in a day in the Internet age. 

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