In this technologically advanced society, fake news is being widely spread across social media platforms. Since the growing popularity in obtaining news online, a large number of the public prefer to read social media news rather than authentic newspapers. It is apparent that sensational news draws more attention and interest from the audience. According to A December 2016 survey by the Pew Research Center suggests that 23 percent of U.S. adults have shared fake news, knowingly or unknowingly, with friends and others. This suggests that sufficient power is given to fake news be spread and influencing the public to some extent. Social networks could be exploited for various intentions with packaged untrue contents. The term fake news refers to inaccurate reports that are generated for gaining attention, misleading or deceiving their readers. The term social media refers to the online communications channels where information is shared. This essay will explain the negative impacts of fake news by focusing on its ability to decrease social media reliability, induce unnecessary fear and disturb political decisions.
Firstly, the social media trust is one of the negative impacts of the fake news in social media. In recent years, with the number of fake news increasing, the public trust of social media news had been decreased. Reliability in social media is lower than reliability in traditional publishers. According to Hunt Allcott and Matthew Gentzkow survey (2017), only 14
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.
Social media news and magazines are brainwashing students: many people would say this actual worldwide effect on todays' society! Especially, author Camila Domonoske would agree, who published, “ Students Have 'Dismaying' Inability To Tell Fake News From Real, Study Finds” she argues and illustrates there is a “ fake news crisis” and that teens are allegedly the most affected by what is true in the news today. Domonoske’s sources are put together without adding personal opinions in her article, which can be considered “ bias” and not reliable to some readers. Her article is supported strongly to readers with informing the readers of several sources, abundant amount proven facts, statistics and using a creative writing strategy such as logos throughout her argument to appeal her readers.
“Fake news,” like Pravda during Soviet Russia times, was used in the election to deliberately sway the political views of the voters and increase the support of one party’s side. During the election, “phony articles concerning candidates…emerged…this fake news boosted the image of…Donald Trump…” (“Fake News”). "Phony articles” or “fake news” on social media affected the candidates’ images, thus making voters more likely to vote for one candidate over the other. “Fake news” can be dangerous in spreading unreliable information and planting false accusations about a candidate in the minds of the voters. In 2016, a fake news story was leaked about Hillary Clinton that led to a shooting in a pizzeria,“Incidents such as this demonstrate how potentially dangerous fake news can be and how difficult it is to distinguish…”(“Fake News”). “Fake news” can cause people to abandon their initial beliefs about a person, like a political candidate, and align with the opposing side, destroying a person’s career over counterfeit media. "Fake news” is propaganda used to change people’s way of thinking, like both Pravda and Squealer’s role on The Farm. All of these methods of propaganda were substantial resources in changing people’s minds and feeding thoughts into their minds. They can be dangerous if they are not identified as being false or exaggerated, and can
As time goes on, social networking sites can influence millions of people without thinking about the consequences. Foer wanted the readers to understand the full impact of Facebook by mentioning that “No other company has so precisely boasted about its ability to shape democracy like this-and for good reason. It’s too much power to entrust to a corporation” (75). The author found it peculiar that Facebook wanted to boast about their success, and the amount of influence that they have. Foer meant by “the ability to shape democracy” is Mark Zuckerberg is allowing Facebook to change the Democratic Party and he does not deny this accusation. He is able to reshape democracy due to the excessive use of algorithms. The people controlling the algorithms are allowing it to pick videos or post pictures that could have social pressures which can influence a person to sway from their original stance. Algorithms should be posting videos at random and should pick related videos if the users asks for it; that way, the user knows what they want and it will be their chose if they want to continuing watching the same videos. Facebook could be sneaky and can be inhumane when it comes to human emotions. Resulting in another treacherous scenario because Facebook does not care, “Whether the information is true or concocted, authoritative reporting or conspiratorial opinion, doesn’t really seem to matter much to Facebook. The crowd gets what it wants and deserves” (Foer 76). Foer mentions something that can be tremendously petrifying to the world and it is that Facebook does not care whether or not a piece of news is genuine on their site. The word “concocted” means made up and Facebook does not filter or check out the sources that make up facts that millions of people read. By ignoring their obligation to check out news like a journalist does, they allow the crowd to get what they want, even if it is fabricated.
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
In the article “Fake News Fools Millions!” written by Carl Stoffers published on january 9, 2017 Stoffers talks about how fake news spread on social media can actually influence real-world events.
Social media has given the human race an unprecedented amount of access to news and information. However, the validity and vetting of this information is often questionable at best. The emergence of websites such as Breitbart, Occupy Democrats, and TheBlaze have given way to a constant stream of partisan
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.
Propaganda is most commonly associated with World War II, yet in our modern day society, we are still inundated with many forms of propaganda, both directly and indirectly. With current events such as the controversial election of President Donald Trump, propaganda has once again moved to the forefront of people’s minds, with an influx of ‘fake news’ and scandalous stories on an almost daily basis, as a consequence of the rise of social media.
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,
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.