Fake News : Causes, And Social Media

Everyday, billions of people read websites, magazines, newspapers, or watch television segments so they are informed on what is happening in the world. The news is something that so many people rely on and check constantly. What people aren’t aware of however, is that so much of what they are being told is a lie. False news is a growing and constant issue in today’s society. Fake news spreads rapidly, changing people's views on the world constantly. However, putting an end to this media trend has proved to be a struggle.

The 2016 election has been the first election where social media has been a key player to how people got their information. Statistics say “44 percent of American adults said they had learned something new in the past week about the election from social media.” However, with social media such an important influence on the younger generation it is important for all of this information to be legitimate and truthful. Google and Facebook have recently changed their policies to try to stop fake news articles from popping up within their ad space. The spread of fake news articles skews the public's perception of the candidates. The guardian talks about how the American voter is not just one demographic (college educated individuals, white men, minorities etc. ) because of this lack of (straightforward), it's hard to get an accurate prediction on who would have won the election. Additionally, the media affected the election negatively because they did not give the general public enough information to understand the statistics that they were

Out of the variety of news sources such as TV, radio, or newspapers, one of the popular sources in today’s world is social media. People are getting addicted to and can’t live without social media such as Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. They use social media as of where they can post their status but also where they can receive a lot of different news. While social media are spreading any kinds of news such as trend, celebrity or even politics, people easily get the information that is not true called “fake news.” The fake news raises the major problem in social media as the news source. Once people see the news, they tend to believe and share it. Liking can spread out fake news in a second. When people like the news, the activity

On the internet there are hundreds of thousands of different news articles, but not all of them are real. Fake news is a type of hoax or deliberate misinformation that you can find almost anywhere mostly because of social networking platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and News Feed.

Thesis: Dissemination of news through social media allows for rapid distribution and incredible accessibility, but can lead to decreased understanding, stifled discussion, and even the propagation of fake news stories.

As technology has advanced and people have become more connected through social media, news has been able to spread further and faster than ever before, leading to a more informed society. However, while news is expected to be correct and accurate, when it is flawed, real world consequences occur. The first and most understandable reason that news is flawed is that it is rushed. Competition has been introduced to the mainstream media in the form of social media. However, as Molly Wood from cnet puts it, “It's fast, but it's bad.” Known as breaking news, these rushed stories are generally inaccurate as they are being reported before the events have fully unfolded. Information is gathered

Twitter and Facebook offer a direct route for delivering information to a large audience. Posts on these social media sites are not required to be accurate, and often present little to no factual content. With social media it is very easy to make misinformation appear accurate, and it is becoming increasingly difficult for the average user to differentiate between what is and isn't credible. Social media is now used to spread propaganda and intentionally deceive. The spread of false information is not new to politics, in fact, it's been around since its onset. The difference now however is the speed at which fake news can travel. According to Rachel Ehrenberg 90 million Americans use Twitter in a given month and it is estimated that half of all Americans are on Facebook with another 5 million people frequenting other social media sites. As a result, the moment something is posted, it has the potential to be seen by thousands almost instantly. This contributes to misinformation being spread quickly and efficiently.

Most people around the world consider search engines as their main source for a resolution yet during this phase, maximum amount of people forget that Fake News still exists. The increasing use of social media in our lives has made critical thinking unnecessary to the extent where censorship of Fake News is required.

This has recently become a major concern because it can have detrimental repercussions and affect people’s lives. There are many ways to take steps toward getting rid of fake news. Facebook and Google are taking major action to try and prevent fake news from being spread on their websites. One way they did this is by changing their algorithm which allowed fake news to be filtered out of their feed. Not only should companies be trying to combat fake news from being spread, but also the society as a whole should help this from happening. One way to prevent the increase of fake news is if social media users know how to spot fake news. Some things to look for when reading an article is the date the story was posted, the author, and even read beyond the headline to see if the article actually matches the outrageous headline. If we as a society do not change the way we share and view news, then nothing will change and fake news will eventually outshine the real

In the midst of the president election an issue rose that has been overlooked by most in the United States over the last few years. Fake news, false information that pretends to be real and is deliberately published in order to misinform the audience. They aim to mislead the audience in order to get some kind of political or financial gain. Something that for some people might feel like a new issue, has been a big problem all over the world, and as the problem is finally starting to come up to light here in the United States, there is a lot that needs to be done in order to solve it. There are many places where fake news are spread to readers, but some of the most used ones are social media websites in general. Places like Facebook, Twitter,

In particular, the Web enables users to share their ideas and thoughts about politics through social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat. These users can post their opinions about general politics, share articles with their followers, and write their own opinion articles. Public social networking sites cannot fact check everything their users write and cannot restrict the content their user's post. This creates a chain reaction where users continue the cycle of “see it, like it, repost it.” As a result, this lack of regulations often leads to false or misreported information to be spread and read by other people.  A majority of these readers will repost anything they read that agree with their opinions. Thus, the cycle is continued. These readers are either too gullible and believe anything they read or are simply too lazy to acquire their information from credible sources and repost whatever they see.

The internet was invented roughly about 30 years ago by the World Wide Web. However, the first social media came out circa 20 years ago. The name of it was Six Degrees and it was created by Andrew Weinreich in the 1900’s. Six degrees users had the capabilities of uploading a profile, making friends, and sending messages with family and friends. Nevertheless on 2004, Facebook was created by Mark Zuckerberg, a 19-year-old who created the biggest social media that changed the world. Till this day, Facebook probably has up to 2 billion users and still counting. Nonetheless, most people seen on Facebook ranges from their teens to mid-40s, that have the capability of spreading information across the globe setting a chain reaction that created and spread fake news. Social medias’ fake news is spread by a heap of people that are easily convinced by false statements. According to Gretel, “In the midst of a nationwide debate over the proliferation of fake news on social media sites – and, as one 2015 study by the Media Insight Project shows, at a time when nearly 9 in 10 Millennials regularly get news from Facebook – the numbers, at first glance, may point to a bleak, uninformed future.” (n. pag.) Therefore, teens need to use social media to disintegrate some of the repercussions of real news.

As the world evolves and changes due to the explosion of technology, so does mankind's ways of intellectual comprehension of informative news. The present day of news has overemphasized the meaning of fake news; which represents any form of false information that is illustrated as factual news. That tends to spread throughout the internet and the media. Misinformed news has taken over the world in so many ways, such as the birth of satirical and sketchy news, the financial motivation to publish actual false news, and difficult to sustain news.

The recent surge in popularity of social media comes with a price: fake news. Fake news is defined as news or media that has been altered or modified. Journalists have begun to analyze why that fake news exists and why it continues exist. Two authors, Eoin O’Carroll and Kevin D. Williamson, both have written articles about fake news. Eoin O’Carroll’s article “How Information Overload Helps Spread Fake News,” discusses how the media has bombarded us with news stories, blurring the distinct lines between real and fake news. Kevin D. Williamson, a journalist for the National Review, writes in his article “‘Fake News, Media and Voters: Shared Reality Must Be Acknowledged” that the news is not fake; it just does not align with one’s personal beliefs. Both authors successfully appeal to their audiences’ emotions and feelings, but O’Carroll is more likely to succeed than Williamson in persuading his audience to try and combat fake news because the writer presents himself as someone the intended readers will more readily identify with and offers evidence that his readers will find more compelling.

Social media like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and many more are well used nowadays. I have found most of the news which is known to be fake are spreading hugely in social media. Recently the news was so much viral in the social media. The news was about a “Muslim migrant” who was accused of beating up a boy on crutches. This video was so much viral in the social media and the highlighted thing is the boy was claimed to be immigrant. This news was published in Netherlands where there was a big controversy in many parts of the world. But later the news was found to be fake and not convincing. Even the news broadcaster and the video poster were found to be fake for this news. The most surprising thing was that the president of United States “Donald Trump” has shared this news on a social media without knowing the point. It’s totally shocking that the person which is well reputed and known has shared the fake news without finding the truth. Because of these kinds of a crucial mistake made by such person has affected the society and the people. He mainly accused the boy as an immigrant which was totally false and unexpected. Even most of the people trust this fake news with only with the title which can bring unwanted accident. So, we can say that the people should be concerned about the news and the reality. We should have to point out whether it's fake or not instead of blaming or degrading others without real and truthful news.