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The Biggest Technology Failures of 2016

From algorithms that spread fake news to glowing plants that don’t glow, here are our picks for the worst technologies of the year.
December 27, 2016

Facebook’s News Feed

“Pope Francis Shocks World, Endorses Donald Trump for President, Releases Statement.” That never happened. Yet this headline was among a tsunami of falsehoods spread on Facebook, the 1.7 billion-member social network. CEO Mark Zuckerberg denies Facebook is a media company or that it can influence global events like elections, an idea he called “pretty crazy” (even though Facebook also sells political ads). But the public sees it differently. President Obama called fake news an existential threat to our “democratic freedoms” and “prosperity.”

Deep Dive

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Capitalizing on machine learning with collaborative, structured enterprise tooling teams

Machine learning advances require an evolution of processes, tooling, and operations.

The race to destroy PFAS, the forever chemicals 

Scientists are showing these damaging compounds can be beat.

How scientists are being squeezed to take sides in the conflict between Israel and Palestine

Tensions over the war are flaring on social media—with real-life ramifications.

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Illustration by Rose Wong

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