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Emran Feroz is an Afghan-Austrian journalist currently based in Stuttgart, Germany. He is regularly writing from Afghanistan, often focusing on the Middle East, Central Asia, drone warfare, refugee policies and human rights. Emran is writing in both German and English. His work has already appeared in international media outlets such as Al Jazeera, The Intercept, Alternet, The Atlantic or the New York Times and in various German and Austrian news papers and magazines.
The times we are living in are truly Orwellian, considering Facebook's recent steps against fake news. It is well-known that since the last presidential elections in the United States, Facebook is facing more and more pressure to prevent the spread of misinformation. However, last week Facebook said it would team up with two US non-profits to slow the global spread of fake news that could influence elections. It also acknowledged that fake news sites were still read by millions.
But the two organizations are the International Republican Institute and the National Democratic Institute, and, of course, both of them have ties with the US government and the country's leading parties.
For that reason, it should be obvious that they have their very own interests. They do not want to combat fake news "because it's a good thing".
Often, the US government itself is spreading misinformation. I witnessed this myself countless times after covering US war crimes in Afghanistan, Pakistan and other countries. So I guess the only bad guys will be the Russians, Iranians and others while the US government itself will be sold as the presenter of the one and only truth.