Netflix takes on the danger of social media with 'Clickbait'

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Black Mirror won't be the only Netflix content that comments on the dangers of the digital age. A new thriller series called Clickbait will turn the spotlight on the growing gap between our online and real-life selves and the risks of social media. The team behind Clickbait includes veteran Australian filmmaker Tony Ayres, Christian White, and Harry Potter and Once Upon A Time in Hollywood producer David Heyman. Ayres will serve as the show's creator, showrunner, and executive producer, while White will be his co-creator, co-producer, and writer. Brad Anderson will be the lead director for the eight-part series.

Ayres calls this series a "passion project" that he expects to have a "real global reach and impact." Clickbait will be the first Netflix series that will be produced in Victoria state, and it'll be shot at Melbourne's Docklands Studios.

Source: Variety

Facebook will change its News Feed algorithm to discourage oversharers of clickbait stories

The latest change to Facebook’s News Feed algorithm won’t affect most users but it’s an important step in trying to stop the spread of fake news and clickbait stories. The social network is going to limit the reach of people known to continuously post links to sensationalist sites and other spam content. According to Facebook this’ll affect a “tiny group” of people (around 0.1%) who share over 50 posts a day. This will also just affect the links they share and not their photos or other posts.

"Our research shows that there is a tiny group of people on Facebook book who routinely share vast amounts of public posts per day, effectively spamming people's feeds," said Adam Mosseri, Facebook's vice president for the News Feed, in a blog post. Other efforts to reduce spam on its service include giving lower prominence to links that have pages full of deceptive ads and the deemphasizing of stories with clickbait-like headlines.

Source: Fortune