The dangers of fake news mingled with social media
How this insidious relationship affects you in the littlest ways.
The relatioship between social media and fake news is a turbulant one. This relationship feels like you are taking a trip down a rocky road. You are going to be in for a bumpy ride.
These two have been so intricately laced as if it was a DNA strand. You see the same amount of news and “fake news” in social media. A large problem with this is that in this time and age anyone can post anything and call it “news”.
A grand majority of fake news publishers focus on the sensationalism and the dramatic impact the news will provide to readers everywhere. Their primary goal is to deliver this content to mislead readers and plant that trickling seed of doubt.
The effortless manner in which misinformation can be spread like wildfire is astounding. But, also at the same time, this can be combated by fact-checking and making sure the information you read is accurate and trustworthy.
Remember when in doubt, check the information from where it originated, and see if any credible sources you know and trust have verified it.
Social media websites, such as Facebook have incorporated fake news detectors to help scope out false information so that readers will not fall prey to these practices. You can read an extensive research article from Kai Shu, Suhang Wang, and Huan Liu where they have looked into the relationship in where fake news detection is interlaced with news publishers, news, and social media users here.
Alison Escalante, a board-certified pediatrician and contributor to Forbes has mentioned the perils in how spiraling this misinformation can be, “Enter social media. My Facebook Messenger has been flooded with mothers asking me whether it’s true that masks cause lung damage. This falsehood is all over social media and moms are worried about their children. And that’s not funny, because it’s scaring people about one of our most powerful tools against coronavirus.” Mothers during this pandemic are worried that the information they read is life threatening and have no idea what is true and what is not.
Now more than ever there is even more false news spread all over the internet. With the arrival and continuing stay of COVID-19 there has been an abundant amount of fake news throughtout every nook and cranny in the world of social media. At this point every single stone goes untouched.
At some point, there will be crossroads in where news and fake news collide. Newsrooms will be at the center of ethical dilemmas when it comes to solving this issue. “As a result, social media policies must evolve as well. As with any ethical dilemma, social media related or otherwise, there’s often no clear-cut answer. That’s why it’s important for newsroom staff to regularly discuss policies and ethical dilemmas,” said Anthony Adornato, in his book Mobile and Social Media Journalism.
There is unfortunately no way to prevent fake news from sprinkling in everyone’s news feed, even with the help of fake news detectors. Although, you can make sure to fact-check anything that seems a little off to you just to be on the safe side.
