Forwarded this email? Subscribe here for more

"Frame Fudge" - The Huffington Post Creates a new kind of Misinformation

The crop tool enables weaponized sharing

Ryan McBeth

Jan 11

READ IN APP

The Huffington Post may have created a new kind of misinformation which I’m going to call “Frame Fudge.”

The idea behind this tactic is to weaponize sharing by combining misleading titles with accurate articles which are designed to be cropped and shared on social media with only the inaccurate information appearing in the share.

The original article from the Huffington Post was titled: “Florida School District Pulls Dictionaries, Encyclopedias From Library Over 'Sexual' Content”.

The article went on to say that the dictionary was one of the 1600 books that was pulled from the shelves for review to comply with Florida’s HB 1069 law regarding the age-appropriate teaching of sex in schools. Even the subtitle “The Escambia County School District is being sued for taking 1,600 titles out of its collection, out of fear that the books violate Florida law” gives more information.

This looks fine on a computer screen. But what happens when the article is viewed on a phone?

Most social media sites such as Instagram or Twitter crop pictures to a square. This was originally done to lower data transmission volume from cell phones in the early days of data-limited smart phones. It also had the added effect of making an image smaller to store and faster to process on a server.

However, if the picture is cropped to a square - the most common method of sharing on social media, only the title will appear on screen.

Based on internet searches, only the cropped title is showing up on social media.

This may be the first case ever of a company engineering a title to be shared on social media with just enough text to guaranteed that the more accurate subtitle cannot be shown in the square social media frame.

I’m naming this type of misinformation “Frame Fudge” since the the “fudge” or lie comes from “framing” the article for social media.

In the era of smartphones and social media, the way information is presented is crucial. The intentional crafting of headlines that can be easily cropped to highlight misleading information while excluding crucial context in a square social media frame is a concerning development. This approach takes advantage of the limitations imposed by the platform's format, capitalizing on the fact that users may not click through to read the entire article or view the full context.

The implications of "Frame Fudge" extend beyond a single article or news outlet. It raises questions about the ethics of media manipulation and the responsibility of publishers to present information accurately, especially in an age where social media plays a significant role in shaping public opinion.

You're currently a free subscriber to The official Ryan McBeth Substack. For the full experience, upgrade your subscription.

Upgrade to paid

Comment

Restack