promoearn: 32 reasons you can't trust everything on Facebook

Tuesday, July 31, 2018

32 reasons you can't trust everything on Facebook

The address sign with a thumbs-up icon outside the main entrance to Facebook HQ.

Russia, that you?

Facebook removed 32 fake pages and accounts on Tuesday. They were part of a covert campaign to influence November midterm elections . Is it Russia? TBD. Facebook is leaving the investigation to law enforcement. What they do know is that eight Facebook pages, 17 Facebook profiles and seven Instagram accounts were created between March 2017 and May 2018. The Facebook pages were not pushing specific candidates ahead of the midterms but sought to stir anger on divisive issues such as race and immigration. The tactics were strikingly similar to Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election but were more carefully disguised, Facebook said. Intelligence and law enforcement officials have warned that Russia would engage in election interference. This could be one of the first signs.

So you didn't have to: We read every one of the 3,517 Facebook ads bought by Russians. Here's what we found

It's Mueller time as Manafort trial kicks off

Did Paul Manafort build a fortune on a foundation of "lies," as prosecutors assert? Or did he simply place his "trust in the wrong person"? The trial of President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman began Tuesday, the first contested prosecution brought under special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. A jury of six men and six women, along with four alternates, heard opening arguments that painted vastly different portraits of Manafort. The case is centered on Manafort's own alleged financial misdealings – he faces 18 counts of bank fraud, tax evasion and conspiracy charges . Prosecutors have indicated his time with the Trump campaign will not be a focus of this trial, but his extravagant lifestyle with seven homes and a $15,000 ostrich-skin jacket will be.

If you can afford a 3-D printer, you can print a 3-D gun

Things you can create with a 3-D printer: a whistle, a toothpaste tube squeezer, a cup holder and smartphone dock. Now add to the list an AR-15 semi-automatic weapon. A day ahead of the release of blueprints that would make public the way to create 3D-printable guns, President Donald Trump questioned his own administration's decision to do so. In a tweet Tuesday morning, he said the technology "doesn't seem to make much sense." He's not alone. So far, eight states and the District of Columbia have sued the Trump administration over the issue. Lawmakers are also drafting legislation to regulate the technology.

Numbers don't lie, but they can be misleading

Forty-eight Iowa juveniles have gone missing in July, leaving Iowans on high alert and anxious for their loved ones. The widely spread statistic comes on the heels of the disappearance of University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts . Numbers can be misleading, especially when the 48 missing children are being considered victims of abduction or having been forced into sex trafficking. In reality? The number includes people younger than 18 who are not considered lost, kidnapped or endangered in some way. The majority of missing children or teens are believed to have run away.

For some lighter news:

•	Southwest Airlines is ditching peanuts. For cost savings? No. For allergies.
•	Retractable flat-screen TVs, solar-powered cabins on wheels: This isn't your grandpa's RV, this is for millennials.
•	Ice cream sprinkles are the best. Until they ruin the environment.
•	This is why we don't have a pet snake.

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This is a compilation of stories from across USA TODAY, brought to you by Emily Brown, David Carrig, and Alex Connor . Our editor is the only other person we know with an ostrich-skin jacket.

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