Educate About Fake News
Technology is starting to consume everyone’s lives if it has not already. For instance, can anyone think of someone that does not have a smartphone or has a social media account?
It was probably difficult to think of very many. With that being said, many individuals have access to a variety of information including news. Below, in the graph, the data shows that Americans rely on social media to get news from Pew Research.
When reading a news article or viewing a segment of news, the reader needs to be cautious of the story being fake news. Fake news in altered information that can be false, inaccurate or misleading, according to Fake News: A Threat of Digital Inclusion.
Fake news is not new. “Before digital platforms and social media, there was yellow journalism (Githaiga). Yellow journalism was text or images that had little legitimate research and was associated with newspapers.
There are a couple main differences between fake news now and before. Before, fake news would take time to go popular or be published in the newspaper; however, now, it is published and saved within minutes on social media. It does not cost to post fake news compared to publishing it in the newspaper.
With publishing and cost decreasing for fake news, fake news can circulate more and faster. According to Fake News: Lies Spread Faster on Social Media than Truth Does, by Maggie Fox, fake news stories are 70% more likely to be retweeted compared to accurate stories.
Trust can be deteriorated by fake news (Beach). With the fake news circulating, the social media users are more leery of trusting the full truth; however, it is not the case for all.
The individuals receive the information from a person or company that the individual values causing the individual to believe the information without fact checking.
For example, some of the political information might not be fully accurate. During Jefferson/Adams campaign, newspapers tossed around lies and rumors (Beach).
Luckily, the user is able to detect if the information is fake news. Fake News, Truth and Trust story gives some advice about how to determine if the information can be trusted.
The list below has a few examples of what suggestions from FactCheck.org cited in Fake News, Truth and Trust.
- Consider the source.
- Read behind the headline.
- Check the author.
- What’s the support.
- Check the date.
- Consult experts.
It is easier for the user to use the suggestions to determine if it is fake news compared to the government. The government could be opposing freedom of speech. Some governments have tried to take charge of the internet by temporary closure or taxes (Githaiga).
Social media companies are allowed to restrict what is said on their platforms. According to The Truth Behind Fake News and Politics on Social Media, It would not be intruding on the First Amendment due to the fact that the social media companies are not government institutions (Brooks).
Fake news is not a new concept; however, some may be unaware of they are being informed and sharing fake news. There are practices to determine fake news from accurate news.
