Category: Fake News

Keri Hilson once said, “We live in such a gullible world. Anything that’s written, anything that’s posted, anything picture that is interpreted one way is taken as truth.” In today’s society, it doesn’t matter where information is coming from because fake news can be spotted anywhere even where it is least expected. Especially in today’s standing century where people of any age have an easy access towards any type of high technology having both an advantage to post/publish whatever they want and the disadvantage for them to know what material is actually accurate. This then leads to people being gullible enough to believe such atrocities, leading towards false information to be shared and flood through people’s social media thus making all of mankind believe the misconception just because they saw it on the internet and now has to be taken as truth.

There have been several cases that people believe headlines they see in their local social media. Just as it happened on July 6, 2013, when the Bay Area’s KTVU Channel 2 News had revealed false information on the severe Asiana 214 plane crash that had just occurred that evening in San Francisco’s local airport (Daniel). The plane tragedy had a total of three hundred seven people aboard and had approximately one hundred and eighty-two people injured and sadly six lives were lost being two passengers and four of the flight pilots. The news station wanting to be the first media outlet to reveal the shocking story. The broadcasters received and confirmed the pilot’s names by a strange summer intern from the National Transportation Safety Board and without any hesitation the broadcasters went ahead and viewed the information to be accurate. Although the managing editor Michelle Toy had a skeptical view on the Pilots names, despite what she thought she went ahead and approved the list given the fact that the National Transportation Safety Board had already given the news station the approval. Being naïve, the broadcaster never bothered to ask for the person’s name or their position in their employment (Daniel). Being eager to report the tragedy the newscasters rushed to go live without even glancing over the names at least once or even phonetically sounding them out. Falling for the summer intern’s prank the news reporters aired every single pilots’ name wrong in such a ridiculous manner in these exact words, Captain Sum Ting Wong, Wi Tu Lo, Ho Lee Fuk, and Bang Ding Ow. When the news production realized their devastating mistake, they immediately apologized to all of their global websites, but unfortunately, that didn’t stop other major media outlets from spreading their irresponsible mistake (Daniel). Even though this misconception was a mistake, the false information was still spread to millions of people leading to the firing of three newscasters. As to before the incident had even taken place, KTVU was seen as a reputable news station. Failing to detect the fake news not only caused a stain in the KTVU’s reputation ,but it also racially offended the Asian community and the families of the deceased pilots that lost their lives that day making the families believe that the tragedy was being taken as a joke ( Fung). As the president of the Asian American Journalist Association had stated himself in the following words, “ Those names were not only wrong, but so grossly offensive that it’s hard for us at the Asian American Journalist Association to fathom how those names made it on the broadcast”.

In 2016, Edgar M. Welch walked into Comet Ping Pong pizzeria in Washington D.C. and fired an assault AR-15 rifle in the restaurant (Haag). Mr. Welch had recently read online messages posted on several social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook that Comet Ping Pong was harboring children in child kidnapping, molesting, and trafficking rings(Kang). He believed the fake news to the point that it concerned him and decided to take matter into his own hands and help rescue the helpless children. Having to drive about more than four and a half hours from North Carolina all the way to Washington D.C. Mr. Welch only fired at least three shots with his AR 15 rifle pointing the gun at the innocent employees what he thought were criminals working at the local comet ping pong pizzeria (Haag). Although when he had already shot his fire Mr. Welch had realized there was no sight of any harbored children in the scene. Not harming any individual in the restaurant, he peacefully surrendered to the police for he did not mean to cause no harm other than to rescue the children. Several news articles claimed that the pizzeria was being identified as the headquarters for a child trafficking ring that was being led by then Secretary of State and democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton (Haag). This false story was widespread across the web on sites including Facebook and Twitter with the intention to cause fear in the 2016 presidential election campaign happening just days before the election took place. Having people such as Mr. Welch, who was identified by friends as a doting father who loved the outdoors and supported family values as their target to believe the fake story( Kang).In court Mr. Welch pleaded guilty and was charged with four counts including felony assault with a deadly weapon (Haag). Although no evidence of harbored children were found at the restaurant Mr. Welch apologized for his actions and lamented he could not undo his actions, fake news continued to appear as people who decided to believe the claims, especially the ones that wanted to gain political advantage, continued to distribute the fake news in platforms such as social media.

Another tragedy that also led society towards a misconception was the chibok schoolgirls kidnapping that took place on April 14, 2014, when an extremist terrorist group called Boko Haram abducted two hundred seventy-six innocent girls from their government secondary school in Nigeria (Busari). The Boko Haram terrorists loaded them into trucks and only fifty-seven girls were able to escape. However, sadly they had to jump off trucks resulting in the girls to have either broken arms or legs. The terrorist group kept the remainder of the girl’s hostage for they believed that the Nigeria school system was breaking free from their traditional Islamic education (Busari). As soon as the tragedy was called upon the global audience was asked to pressure the government to rescue the students. Many celebrities such as Michelle Obama and Malala had taken the catastrophe to their own hands and protested with the phrase, “bring back our girls”. On the other hand, the government insisted that the chibok girl kidnapping was nothing but a hoax leading several people in Nigeria to be easily deceived and believe that the chibok girls were never kidnapped (Busari). The hoax narrative only delayed the rescue operations. Still today, the fake news that the crime never happened still persists. The families of those who were kidnapped were in despair for their daughters to return home because they believed and had full proof of their daughters kidnapping when Boko Haram had filmed a video of the chibok girls to show proof that their daughters were still alive (Busari). The people of Nigeria were incredulous of the story only because the government had said it was all a lie. This only anguished the families more knowing they were not receiving support from the government and the Nigerian community. This case is a prime example of the consequences of fake news. People lose trust in the media nowadays because news is fabricated to misinform about government’s lack of action or mistakes, personal agendas, or simply to create chaos. This results in real news to possibly be regarded as fake news.

Fake news is a problem because we believe the content or in many cases, we decide to believe it. Many could easily believe this unique to the millennial generation. Big names in the major news outlets such as Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity have fallen for reporting fake news other stories that are wildly bizarre are also fooling people and are being shared on social media, and there are others that surely know the content is fake news and still spread the media. Definitely gullibility helps to create a market for fake news. Misinformation leads to poor decisions about matters that are consequential, and it is difficult to correct and has lasting effects even if the news is publicly discredited or denied. To ensure fake news is not spread, we the ordinary citizens have a major role to stop it. We have to be skeptical and ask ourselves if what we share is legitimate, why is the story being told, what is being gained by sharing the story, and if there is a hidden agenda. Questioning misinformation is not only the responsibility of the journalist, but for society to take responsibility in what they have read and shared.

In the recent years the journalism positioned is under fire because lots questions are raising about their quality of service, effect and credibility of the press and the scenario is completely change about journalism people don’t know which story is believable and which isn’t. In today’s world so many powerful political campaigns are spreading untruths – disinformation, mal-information and misinformation – which is often shared on social media to manipulate people.

• Disinformation: Information, which is deliberately false is to create damage to a person, a social group, employer or country.
• Misinformation: Information, which is fake but no longer fabricated with the aim to causing harm.
• Mal information: Information, which is completely based on reality, used to impose damage on a person, social group, employer or nation.

In addition, there are a few other related sorts of statistics disorder like rumour are spreading from person to person, of which the truth is unconfirmed or dubious. Rumours generally stand up in the presence of ambivalent or frightening events. When the information declared fake, this kind of rumour called misinformation.; In old ages Urban Legend is a fictional tale which is heard from person to person in their local culture. The spread of fake or misleading information frequently has a potent nature, which is creating different types of information disorder. Although, disinformation can develop as a misinformation. For instance, a disinformation developer can deliberately spread the false data on social media. Most of the People who see the news don’t know that the information is fake or not, and they do share it in their groups and communities, using their own image. On the contrary, misinformation also transforms into disinformation. For instance, a chunk of mockery news maybe deliberately disbursed outside the context to cheat consumers. A distinctive instance of disinformation is false news.

Today, journalists are not just witnessing a disinformation and misinformation but also find themselves in its pathway too. This means that:

• Journalists confronting the risk of being drowned by this conflict.
• Journalists put their jobs at stake by their corrupt journalists whose involve in spreading disinformation to the public.
• Journalists as communicators whose work is to serve truth to the public, including “inconvenient truths”, can find themselves as victim of lies, rumours which is designed to disgrace and dishonour them and their journalism.

Fake News as an Example of Disinformation

Fake news (also known as junk news, pseudo-news, alternative facts or hoax news)[1][2] is a form of news consisting of deliberate disinformation or hoaxes spread via traditional news media (print and broadcast) or online social media.(Wikipedia.org). Fake news is written and published normally with the purpose to delude to harm an organisation, intuition, an individual, and/or gain economically or politically agenda. The purpose of fake news to expanded in post reality diplomacy. For media organisations, the skill to allure viewers to visit their web sites is crucial part to give rise to their online advertising and marketing profits. To improve their ratings and benefit from advertiser’s media organisations Publishing a tale with fake content that draws user’s attention. In Facebook news feed multiple political parties has been generate revenue because of Easy online access and their popularity in social media so they incriminate the fake news which compete with legal information. Additionally, during elections hostile government actors have been incriminate in producing and disseminate fake news.

During this coronavirus pandemic, ‘fake news’ is putting lives at risk: (UNESCO)

In recent times, BBC has been investigated loads of misleading stories all through the COVID-19 outbreak. It is given a concept about who is behind at the back of misinformation and what persuade them. There are so many varieties of folks who begin and unroll the action of falsification:

And, to take a slightly more extreme example, a prankster created a screenshot of a fake government text that claimed the recipient had been fined for leaving the house too many times. He thought it would be funny to scare people breaking lockdown rules. After encouraging his followers to share it on Instagram, it found its way to local Facebook groups, where it was posted by worried residents, some of whom took it seriously. “I don’t really want to cause panic,’ says the prankster, who would not give us his real name. ‘But if they believe a screenshot on social media, they really need to sort of re-evaluate the way they consume information on the internet.'(BBC.COM)

Other false content assert to be from the authorities or nearby councils were generated with the aid of scammers looking to make money from the pandemic. One such scam investigated by way of fact-checking charity Full Fact in March claimed that the government turned into offering people relief payments and asked for financial institution details. Photos of the rip-off text were shared on Facebook. Since it circulated with the aid of text message, it is hard to get to the bottom of who turned into at the back of them.

Answer this honestly, Have you ever read an article headline on social media and clicked ‘like’ or shared the post without digesting the entire article and thinking critically about its contents. And do the articles and posts you share on social media support your initial views or challenge them?

The fake news that’s infecting our screens

The way kiwis digest and consume news has revolutionised over the last 20 years. Since the inception of the internet, kiwis are flocking to social media as their first choice to access the latest in news, sport, and entertainment.

It’s our craving for quick reads and tabloid-style sensationalism that makes social media the platform of choice for manipulative narrators to package hidden agendas, propaganda and half truths into a neatly wrapped parcel in the guise of a legitimate news headline.

Our move away from more-traditional mainstream news outlets, which had some ethical standards, to consumption of social newsfeeds has weakened mainstream media, forcing its players to compete for attention by offering up catnip clickbait headlines of their own to stoke the fires of rage of their intended targets.

Bear in mind, fake news is not a new concept – it’s been around long before social media, let alone the invention of the high bike. Modern newspapers came to the scene in the early 19th century, touting scoops and exposés, but also fake stories to increase circulation. How can we forget The New York Sun’s “Great Moon Hoax” of 1835 which claimed that there was an alien civilisation on the moon. Although completely fabricated, it helped establish the Sun as a leading, profitable newspaper for years to come.

True fact is no longer dictated by authorities, but is networked by people like you and me. For every fact there is a counter-fact. And what’s confusing for us as readers, is they are almost indistinguishable, making it difficult to determine what’s real and what isn’t.

Part of the problem, is that unlike books and reputable news agencies such as Wall Street Journal, Forbes and Bloomberg, information on social media doesn’t have to be vetted, investigated, or confirmed in order to spread, which this leads to the dissemination of misinformation and fake news. And like wildfire, it spreads destruction in its wake.

Why spread fake news? ‘Fake News’ is designed to provoke extremist sentiment, influence political processes, or seed distrust and confusion in society. It’s also created to make money. The internet is a powerhouse for income generation – and popular news headlines means big dollars. The more clicks on a page, the more the advertising on the page is seen. The more it is seen, the more revenue for the page’s administrators – it isn’t even necessary for the reader to click on the ad.

So how do we spot fake news? Compared to real news, fake news tends to include information that is more surprising, upsetting or geared to trigger anger or anxiety. Any information that fits that (and a lot of coronavirus news can) should be double checked. Other cues that should raise suspicion include unknown sources, unusual numbers of endorsements (or likes) and memes that focus on partisan topics.

How Fake News infects our freedom of speech

Most of our engagement on social media align with our beliefs, interests, and hobbies. We may ‘like’ a dog post or group because we own a dog. And we may share and comment on posts that support our political views. Our activity on social media may seem relatively innocuous and safe, but what we sometimes forget is that we are creating an online bubble that inhibits our ability to think critically and challenge our own thoughts and beliefs. The growing proliferation of this type of activity can be referred to as an echo chamber.

An echo chamber is an environment where a person only encounters information or opinions that reflect and reinforce their own. Echo chambers can create misinformation and distort a person’s perspective so they have difficulty considering opposing viewpoints. Latching onto one way thinking, they hear arguments and evidence only from their side of the spectrum. They’re never exposed to the other side’s views. An echo chamber leads its members to distrust everybody on the outside of that chamber.

As a result, I see more and more people closing their minds to other perspectives and differing ideas because of their dogmatic belief and predisposition that their way of understanding is correct. I don’t blame them. Just about any belief that we subscribe to can be ‘validated’ on the internet. You can find hundreds, if not thousands of articles that both support and dismiss the the benefits of a Vegan, Paleo, and Vegetarian diet.

“If a lie is only printed often enough, it becomes a quasi-truth, and if such a truth is repeated often enough, it becomes an article of belief, a dogma, and men will die for it.” — Isa Blagden

I have seen this behaviour repeatedly on political and pandemic related posts in New Zealand. People getting defensive of their political views, and becoming intolerant of anyone else who may have an alternative view.

Why, because we are only human

As mentioned above, fake news is nothing new. It’s been poisoning our social newsfeeds for years. So why is it that so many of us intelligent, sensible, and capable humans fall for it?

There are many factors that play into our engagement with fake news, and predisposition to dismiss opposing views. Much of it has to do with cultural cognition. People who share untrue stories may identify strongly with a partisan position or narrative—the fake news reflects how they see both themselves and the world. When someone shares a piece of political fake news, it is an act of confirmation biases, favouring information that confirms our existing beliefs in an attempt to strengthen their existing point of view.

Take for example, political debates. If you browse through the comments section on any liberal or conservative post, you’ll see it riddled with ‘fights’. Consider that Political fights on social media are not an objective debate, but rather a set of heated emotional arguments that get to the very core of what people believe in and how they see their place in the future of their country.

When people are engaging in this online debates, they are not interested in hearing counterpoints. They see this as a personal attack on their identity. And after residing in their insular beliefs that are endorsed and validated by other members of the echo chamber, its easy to understand why such people react so emotionally when someone with opposing views attempts to tear down foundation blocks that their online community is built on.

So when you feel compelled to dispel fake news on social media, remember you are not dealing with the rational mind. It may sound counterintuitive, especially given we are taught to focus on the problem and not the person when it comes to conflict resolution. But you need to engage with the human first. Im talking about empathy, perspective taking, and connectivity.

Try to dig deeper than than the comment. Probe a little further to understand not what they have said, but why they have said it. For example, if a friend shares misinformation about the safety of vaccines, they are likely doing so because they are worried about the health of their children. Even if the science on vaccines shows the opposite of what the post says, the poster’s “underlying message is I’m a good parent,” says Emily Thorson, a political scientist at Boston College. “Affirm what they want [you] to affirm”—that they care about their kids—“and let that be true, along with the fact being wrong

When fake news has very real consequences

On Sunday, December 4, 2016, a shooting incident occurred at a pizza shop in Washington D.C . A man brought a rifle into the shop and began shooting. Fortunately, no one was hurt, and the suspect was arrested, but the motive for this crime and the circumstances that triggered it were shocking.

The pizza shop, called Comet Ping Pong, had become embroiled in a strange situation where false tweets widely spread on the net claiming that this pizza shop was the base for a pedophile sex ring involving Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and her party members.

A number of anonymous bulletin board then focused their attention solely on the pizza shop. This escalated into social media posts claiming that this shop was the site of child sex trafficking. Even after Ms. Clinton’s defeat the following day, the tweets did not subside, and instead continued to expand.

As the number of people who believed in the “pizzagate” conspiracy grew, and the threats directed at the pizza shop increased, the shops in the neighborhood also became involved. The operators of the pizza shop and surrounding businesses said they became frightened by more and more confrontations with people who believed the fake news.

Although social media subsequently banned posts related to pizzagate, the threats did not stop, culminating in the appearance of a 28-year-old man from North Carolina, who showed up at the shop with a rifle to do his own “investigation.” According to a New York Times interview with the suspect after his capture, he was a soft-spoken, polite man who intended to rescue the children trapped in the shop.

Although no one was hurt, a real shooting being caused by fake news is serious. The people who believe the fake news, like the suspect in this incident, are often people who appear to be perfectly ordinary.

What can we do about it?

There is always a fight between ‘truth’ and free speech. But because the internet is not yet in a position to regulate and filter fabricated news from true fact, it will continue to dominate. So what can we do to minimise the impact of fake news and

Take responsibility for what you communicate to others, a harmless two second act of sharing or liking a post can have significant impacts on

Since the age of the internet we are all publishers, each of us bears a responsibility for the publics sense of truth. If we are serious about seeking facts, we MUST work to verify our sources, to dismiss fake news, and to to follow reporters you have reason to trust, not those who validate your opinion. .

As humans, we do not see the minds that we hurt when we publish falsehood, but that does not mean we are doing no harm. Like driving a car, we may not see the other driver, but we know not to run into them, Likewise, although we may not see the other person in front of his or her computer, we have a shared responsibility for what he or she is reading. If we can avoid doing violence to the minds of the unseen others on the internet, others will learn to do the same. Then perhaps, our newsfeeds, will cease to look like one tyrannic car crash

Challenge stereotype. Has the judgements been made ab out a specific group of people or culture? Are these people being misrepresented?

Adopt a critical-thinking mindset. Look at the view points being represented. Does voices are heard, who do we not hear from, and why would people have opposing views.

Question that authors intention – why do you think the author has chosen to write about this story? And do you think the author is trying to change your opinion?

Final words

To minimise narrow thinking and the mass infection of fake news on our social media, we must not accept that an erroneous truth only applies to others. It applies to everyone – you and me.

Accept that we are responsible for our beliefs. We cannot and should not lay blame on social media and narratives with hidden agendas. We must put effort in how we access, interpret, and disseminate our social media footprint. We must think critically about the information we are being exposed to in order to identify when it’s distorting our worldview.

Before we use information as the basis for initiating a Facebook war with someone who has an opposing view, verify your facts, dig deeper to understand not what they have said but why they have said it. Consider the impact of what you’re saying and its wider implications.

Truth is a precarious thing, not because it doesn’t objectively exist, but because the incentives to warp it can be so strong. It’s up to each of us to seek it out.

In recent years, the number of fake news has grown extremely due to the internet and social media. However, fake news is a major problem which has serious implications. It is clear to see that not all news is trustworthy. Hence, this essay will analysis three different types of fake news which are aimed at different groups: the individual, the community, and the world as a whole. This essay will then focus on some of the factors and consequences of the growth of fake news and go on to suggest what can be done to avoid believing fake news and accepting the wrong information.

Nowadays, making news is extremely easy on the internet which own wealthy of information and easy to obtain. And the different level of fake news could create grievous impacts world, even the community as a whole.

There are three main groups of fake news, one of the fake news is about individual news, which has the smallest affection for the community, it usually influenced one to two persons or a family. For example, there is a horrible mother making her daughter believe she was in a seriously ill single family which lives in America, so the mother can ask for financial help from society to afford her daughter’s medical health care. This fake news wins everyone’s mercy and people provides financial aid for this poor family, after the daughter murdered her mother cause she found out she has been fooled for 15years. The public realized what they have donated is all fake. Consequently, this family is breaking down by the mother who speeded fake messages on social media. (Morabito. 2017). This type of news usually won’t influence on society, but can destroy a person even the whole family.

In addition to the light influence on individual fake news, the news about community is in the top 2 affection. Moreover, it also has the possibility to be global news. This kind of fake news is regularly reports on social media which focus on negative or positive news in whole communities. For instance, One of the drawbacks shared at an isolated event, India’s Infibeam Roads, an e-commerce agency, the figure for lost marketing confidence on a day was three quarters in 2018 after false information about the company’s accounts circulated in WhatsApp messages to traders. The firm outlined the incident to the Indian securities regulator. The risk scene was compounded by the fact that the report showed there is over seventy per cent of businesses discussed the use of ‘influencers’ and product envoys. This implies that both influences and their more complex computerized structures have had to be checked. (Binham, C. 2019) Not only industries defamed each other by published fake news of theirs competitor to improve company’s profits. But also a problem for the consumers whom using their products, even worse this will influence the life in the community as a whole.

Moreover, if the news can impact effectively in community. Subsequently, become viral (spread widely on internet platforms), then become the target for global news. For example, the news about Hong Kong protest in china has caught attention on international news since of clashes between police and activists have ended up progressively savage, with police terminating live bullets and nonconformists assaulting officers and tossing petrol bombs. (BBC News, 2019). Also the live video of the protest speeded widely on the internet, as a result, the people around the world likely to know what this news about. Hence, some countries put them self in China shoes to think about how to balance the problem between the government and people who live in the county. As shown in the news, how news can be effective to change a person or even the whole world while the number of fake news are gradually growing. Although the fake news increases dramatically and rooted in the modern world.

There are too many motivations for people to make fake news, which had resulted to three different classes of consequences. On the other hand, compared with the past, making news is easier in modern life. Social platforms on the internet are one of the main factors of fake news.

In addition to easy to make news on social platforms. Also, there is some of the fake news is people are too quick on making a conclusion without knowing the exact story. Even worse, the misinformation will be spread with relaying incorrectly in the community. For instance, to gain audiences the original story will be over-modification due to interesting and unexpected is more attracted to public. Consequently, the facts story will be replaced by fake news, which got more viewer on social media. Furthermore, the more readers and audiences can create a more commercial profit. (Webb, H and Jirotka, M. 2017) Argue that: “A further key concern is that this vulnerability can be exploited so that false content is propagated in an organized way for the purposes of profit (gained via online advertising) or political interference.“

Beside to the motivation of makes fake news, but also young people are deeply obsessed with social media such as Tweeter, Instagram, Facebook and, the most popular platform – Snapchat which they are likely to believe the information from social media, when this incorrect information is released it reaches a large audience in seconds. Therefore, fake news is often disseminated extensively and many people believe it without thinking carefully.

Another reason for why adolescents are more likely to be fooled is due to they are less experienced than adults. Inasmuch as teenagers in nowadays life most of the knowledge is learning from the social platforms, furthermore, they don’t have enough experience or judging right from wrong then easily due to the image they see on social media. The growth of fake news not only due to the internet, but also the disinformation gone viral on social media which young people are addicted to.

However, fake news is rooted in the community which people prefer to keep the faith in what they expected. For example, in the report about Hong Kong protest, police and protesters clashed in the Prince Edward MTR station, leading to a number of injuries. When the number of people hurt was revised, a rumor began circulating that police had beaten some protesters to death. Photos of bodies were shared online, along with the claim that these were people arrested on August 31. This fake news increased Asia teenagers anger and as a result, they will want to risk their life to support their friends. (Kuo and Hale 2019). This information was rejected by Lew, L. (2019). As seen, this is defiantly fabricated news, which is benefited to the China government but also the news that people tend to believe, however, the incorrect information is too much to notice the exact story. Consequently, the truth is difficult to be trusted if there is not any picture or video to support it.

To identify the misinformation, Wardle, C. as cited by Mitchell Waldrop, M. (2017) suggests some steps can be taken to find the false content. This includes analyzing the context and checking if there is an incorrect between it and the headline, visuals or captions. Before establishing if something is true or false, it is important to do the research thoroughly from the official internet platforms or library is a most significant steps need to be done first. At that point perusing carefully in the event that veritable substance is shared with compare relevant data. Advance recommends that pay consideration in the event that the substance is deluded, faker or manufactured, considering that the disinformation may be a parody or spoof which deliberate to cause hurt but have potential to trick.

Detail about how to identify the fake information into three main points. First, the research from (Columbia College. 2019) point that review the effectiveness of the publisher is easy and important to recognize the source and credibility. For instance, the trailing site named.’co’ is not often a trustful website to learn the information. Although, web link called ‘ABC News’ may have high reliability of information, but not all the website is worth to trust such as abcnews.com.co. It looked unique and seems similar to the original site investigated, but it is usually an illegal site. Furthermore, it is extremely important to clarify the point of view of the article. If the content of the article is ironic or defamatory, even more deliberately exaggerate the facts, then it may be a fake news. In addition to analyzing the authenticity of the content of the article, the author of the article is also an important part of analyzing false information. Usually, most news, which is credible will have the author’s full name and contact detail in case the content of the article requires updating, therefore this must be focused on in order to establish whether this person exists or it this is the writing of an anonymous person in which case, questions can be asked about the authenticity of the content. Thus, vetting the publisher’s validity is a significant step before reading the article, and subsequently can help in identifying the misinformation.

Secondly, according to the research (Fake News Challenge. 2017) which gave an interesting tip to understand the quality of information is also an important factor when attempting to identify misinformation in the news, since any article can be falsified on the Internet. Therefore, it is important to think about the original source to determine the trustworthiness of the article. Moreover, pay attention to these matters when reading trusted resources carefully, which mean the trustful resources mostly have high editorial and syntactic guidelines. For example, if the article or website has a garbled message, reading should be stopped immediately and, attempts should be made to find the initial information and credible research sources to clarify any contradictions conflict between the article and the original material. After finding the first source, individual need to study other people’s views about the author or publisher. The reason for such precaution is due to overthinking the information, but to ensure the correctness of facts. Checking the quality the false contents more easily discerned.

Additional step citizens can take is to to check the sources and citations in the news pieces. By knowing exactly where the original origin of the article came from is helpful to recognize any false information. For instance, if the information or news came from a social media feature or a bait advertisement URL, the contents of these sources are most likely to be incorrect or unactual. Moreover, this data might be shared by a company which just wants to increase its profit. On the other hand, there is too many recourses that force the viewers to read while they are viewing the website. Therefore, credible journalism is based on fact-gathering by examining the sources cited, so a lack of research may mean a lack of fact-based information. (Columbia College. 2019). Before reaching a conclusion, these steps can be taken to identify any misinformation.

In conclusion, different types of fake news which are individual, community and global can cause various issues such as the relationship between people in small groups, the trust between companies and customers, and can even develop tension between countries which also can effect the world as a whole. Not only is fakes news easy to make in the modern world, but it is also easy to spread such information on social platforms which young people tend to believe. Moreover, many people prefer to believe what they are expected to, in the news. Nevertheless, there is no method which can completely stop fake news – yet. There are some suggestions from research which can be taken to identify the incorrect information- check the web link, read carefully form the quality and timeliness also ensure the sources is trustworthiness.

Abstract—

Now a days sources of data from online social media may be consist of some data which are noisy and sparse. While handling of big data related social sensing media applications their challenges like misinformation on spread are data sparsity and fake news. The system is going to use of advanced algorithms to discover the dynamic truth information and frequently used information. Addressing misinformation spread in big data (e.g. WhatsApp, Twitter, Instagram) is difficult task in the current era. There will be one more challenge is data sparsing, where majority of sources contribute only small number of claims. The existing solution are not enough for large scale social sensing events, since existing algorithms have centralized in nature. We are going to use of the SRTD scheme for identifying both source realibility as well as crediability of the claims. For implementing the proposed system of truth discovery HTcondor system we are going to involved .To solve the truth discovery problem there are principles in data mining and network sensing communities. The above important challenges will be well addressing by the truth discovery solution in social media sensing application. In truth discovery significant amount of attentions has recieved in recent years and we will be developing various models to address truth information.

Keywords— Big Data, Truth Discovery, Scalable, Data Sparsity, Reliability.

I. Introduction

This paper presents new truth discovery approach on social media. Lagre number of news releasing on social media application from that all are not true it may be false or fake. In big data social media like facebook, whatsaap, twitter large amount of data which may difficult to discover. There is big challenge in truth discovery i.e. misinformation spreading [1], There may challenge in like in social media application correctness of reported observation and reliability of data sources[5]. Furthermore, unlike claims generated by human which add further complexity to the truth discovery.

Consider the example in which the information of the any famous actor is spreading which is not true, which may be known as “misinformation spread”. Also example of social media sensing include real world awareness in intelligent transport system application[5]. Principle of solution from data mining, data analytics and network sensing communities which addressing truthness of problem[1][5]. The main two challenges like “data sparsity” and “misinformation spread” means spreading false information on social media addressing by “on robust truth discovery in sparse social media sensing[1][3]. In such case the finding correctness of claims is little bit difficult.

Recent efforts have been made to solve dynamic truth discovery of problem like noisy and incomplete data, where social media sensing data is sparse in nature [4]. These solutions include new constraint-aware dynamic truth discovery schema (CA-DTD) Markov model [1] [4]. This schema recently applied on real world data sets. Note that, a trivial way of accomplishing the truth discovery task is by “believing” only those observation that are reported by a sufficient number of sources[2]. A significant challenge in social media sensing application lies in ascertaining the correctness of collected data. In previous work optimal solution for the truth discovery is made by using maximum likelihood estimation [2] [1]. This observation of current literature of truth discovery is given as above.

A. Objectives

1. To reduce the spreading of misinformation on social media sensing application.
2. To detect the dynamic truth information.
3. To identify truthful claims among widely spread misinformation.
4. To solve the truth discovery problem in big data social media sensing applications.

B. Motivation

The first one is “misinformation spread” where a significant number of sources are contributing to false claims, making the identification of truthful claims difficult. For example, on Twitter, rumors, scams, and influence bots are common examples of sources colluding, either intentionally or unintentionally, to spread misinformation and obscure the truth. The second challenge is “data sparsity” or the “long-tail phenomenon” where a majority of sources only contribute a small number of claims, providing insufficient evidence to determine those sources’ trustworthiness.

II. Literature Survey

The multimedia social event summarization framework which automatically generates holistic visualized summary from the microblogs of various media types was presented by Jingwen Bian, Yang Yang, Hanwang Zhang, Tat-Seng Chua; they developed three major stages to accomplish the summarization. First, they devised an effective approach for eliminating noisy images from raw collection. Then a novel Cross-Media-LDA (CMLDA) model was proposed. Finally they generated the multimedia summary for social events.

Danial (yue) Zhang, Rungana Han, Dong Wang, Chao Huang, find two fundamental challenges in truth discovery problem in social media sensing. They develop a novel Robust Truth Discovery (RTD) Scheme that explicitly considers both the fine-grained source attitude and source’s historical contributions. The RTD addressed the misinformation spread and data sparsity. They introduce the concept of Contribution Score (CS) of sources to address the data sparsity. Two large scale real world data sets were used to evaluating the performance of scheme.

Danial (yue) Zhang, Dong Wang, Yang Zhang, introduced the physical constraint awareness, which was Hard constraints and Soft constraints.They present the Constraint Aware Dynamic Truth Discovery (CA-DTD) scheme which consist two key components: Constraint-Aware Hidden Markov Model (CA-HMM) and Complimentary Source Incorporation (CSI). The system result was important since they lay out solid analytical foundation to address the dynamic truth discovery. The overview of CA-DTD scheme in this survey is as follows:

Complimentary Sources

Primary

Sources

Fig: Overview of CA-DTD Scheme

Dong Wang, Lance Kaplan, Hieu Le, Tarek Abdelzaher, introduced the problem of finding the maimum likelihood estimates of parameters in statistic model, where data is” incomplete”. To solve this problem they discovered the Expectation-Maximization (EM) Algorithm. The EM approach can determine the correctness of Reported observations; optimal solution is obtained by solving it. The solution is directly lead to an analyatically founded quantifiacation of the correctness of measurements and realiability of participants.

Chao Huang, Dong Wang and Nitesh V.Chawla, discovered the challenge of finding the reliability of sources without without prior knowledge lies in social sensing application.they founded two main Schemes which was Uncertainty-Aware Truth Discovery (UTD) and Scalable Uncertainty-Aware Truth Discovery (SUTD).The SUTD Scheme was used to finding the solution of the Constraint estimation problem to estimate the both the correctness of the reported data and realiblity of sources. The Scheme used in that System improves the execution time of truth discovery.

As we know the Scalable and Robust Truth Discovery in Big data Social Media Sensing Application was most important thing. Daniel (Yue) Zhang, Dong Wang, Nathan Vance, Yang Zhang and Steven Mike, introduced that identifying truth information presence in noisy data was crucial task in era of big data. They recognized the problems like ‘misinformation spread’ and ‘data sparasity’ in big data social media sensing applications. They proposed the Scalable Robust Truth Discovery (SRTD) Scheme, HT Condor System and Work Framework. The SRTD scheme effectively addressed the data sparasity and misinformation challenges in big data. They evaluated the SRTD using three real world datasets. They achieved both the truth discovery accuracy and computational efficiency.

Daniel (Yue) Zhang, Yue Ma, Yang Zhang, Suwen Lin, X. Sharon Hu, Dong Wang, were addressed two important challenges conflicting interest and asymmetric and incomplete information. They develop Bottom-Up-Game-Theoretic task allocation (BGTA) framework to solve the real time and non-cooperative task allocation problem for social sensing application. They implemented a prototype of BGTA using the Nvidia Jetson boards. The result from those two real-world social sensing applications demonstrates that BGTA achieves significant performance gain in objective of applications and edge nodes.

Crowdsourcing is a process of integration acquisition and analysis of big data generated by diversity of sourced in urban spaces. Zhang Xu, Yunhuai Liu, Neil Y. Yen, describe the real time urban emergency event based on crowdsourcing using Weibo. They proposed 5W (What, Where, When, Who, Why) model, which is used to detect and describe the real time urban emergency event. The spatial and temporal information from the social media are extracted to detect real time event. They also evaluated with extensive case studies based on real urban emergency events. Model proposed by that system is applied into management field which provide useful information analyse resist urban events.

Define abbreviations and acronyms the first time they are used in the text, even after they have been defined in the abstract. Abbreviations such as IEEE, SI, MKS, CGS, sc, dc, and rms do not have to be defined. Do not use abbreviations in the title or heads unless they are unavoidable.

Daniel (Yue) Zhang, Dong Wang, Hao Zhang, Qi Li, Yang Zhang, develop a new Point-Of-Interest prediction scheme by using two core Natural Language Processing (NLP) models (Ngram and PLSA). In first, they implement a Temporal Adaptive-Ngram Model which captures the dynamic dependency between check-in points and in second Probabilistic Latent semantic Analysis (PLSA) predict to incorporate the contextual information. CAP-CP scheme can accurately predict the user’s category performance in future.

Daniel (Yue) Zhang, Chao Zheng, Dong Thain, Chao Wang, Doug Thain, Chao Huang, they Introduced three fundamental challenges was dyanamic truth,Scalability and heterogeneity of streaming data.This System used effective scheme Scalable Streaming Truth Discovery(SSTD).The SSTD scheme addressed dyanamic truth challenge by explicitly modelling truth transition by using HMM based model.SSTD also effectively introduced the heterogenecity of the streaming data by integrating a feedback controller for dyanamic task allocation and resource management. To extend above work they had to explore real-time optimization (RTO) technique.

Jize Zhang, Dong Wang, presented a new analytical approach to solve the duplicate report detection problem in crowdsensing baqsed on urban issue reporting system. The fully unsupervised binary classification approach developed based on the Expectation-Maximization (EM) framework. The solution evaluated by that system useful in both synthetic and real world datasets collected from smart city applications. The performance of that system improves the duplicate report detection accuracy compare to the state-of-the-art baseline. They made perfect duplicate report detection in urban crowdsensing application with the help of EM algorithm.

Xiaoxin Yin, Jiawei Han, Senior Member, they introduce and formulate the Veracity problem, which aims at resolving conflicting facts from multiple websites and finding the true facts among them.They propose TRUTHFINDER, an approach that utilizes the interdependency between website trustworthiness and fact confidence to find trustable websites and true facts. They were found TRUTHFINDER achieves highly accurate finding true facts and at the same time identifies websites which provide more accurate information.

Bo Zhao, Benjamin I. P. Rubinstein, Jim Gemmell, Jiawei Han, they experiment on two real world datasets demonstrate the clear advantage of method over the state-of-the-art truth finding methods. A case-study of source quality predicted by our model also verifies our intuition that two aspects of source quality should be considered. An efficient inference algorithm based on collapsed Gibbs sampling is developed, which is shown through experiments to converge quickly and cost linear time with regard to data size. Additionally, the method can naturally incorporate various prior knowledge about the distribution of truth or quality of sources, and it can be employed in an online streaming setting for incremental truth finding, which they prove to be much more efficient than and as effective as batch inference.

Sagar Bhuta, AvitDoshi, Uehit Doshi, Meera Narvekar, they has been found out that a number of techniques can be used to perform sentiment analysis of text. But the methods are domain specific. Moreover the techniques need to be adapted to the source from which the data is extracted. If the source is a social networking website, the language use and specific conventions need to be addressed.

Dong Wang, Lance Kaplan, Hieu Le, Tarek Abdelzaher, they described a maximum likelihood estimation approach to accurately discover the truth in social sensing applications. The approach can determine the correctness of reported observations given only the measurements sent without knowing the trustworthiness of participants. The optimal solution is obtained by solving an expectation-maximization problem and can directly lead to an analytically founded quantification of the correctness of measurements as well as the reliability of participants.

Robin Wentao Ouyang, Lance M. Kaplan, Alice Toniolo, Mani Srivastava, and Timothy J. Norman, they propose new parallel and streaming truth discovery algorithms for quantitative crowdsourcing applications involving big or streaming data. Through extensive experiments, they demonstrate that both algorithms are effective. Moreover, the parallel algorithm can efficiently perform truth discovery on large datasets, and the streaming algorithm can efficiently perform truth discovery both on large datasets and in data streams. They can thus support effective and scalable truth discovery in large-scale quantitative crowdsourcing applications.

III. Proposed System

In proposed system, the process of addressing misinformation spread and data sparsity in truth discovery on social media. Before classification, a classifier that contains the knowledge structure should be trained with the prelabeled tweets. After the classification model gains the knowledge structure of the training data, it can be used to predict a new incoming tweet. The whole process consists of two steps: learning and classifying. Features of tweets will be extracted and formatted as a vector. The class labels i.e. spam and non-spam could be get via some other approaches. Features and class label will be combined as one instance for training. One training tweet can then be represented by a pair containing one feature vector, which represents a tweet, and the expected result, and the training set is the vector. The training set is the input of machine learning algorithm, the classification model will be built after training process. In the classifying process, timely captured tweets will be labelled by the trained classification model.

A. Architecture

Fig 1. System Architecture

IV. Result And Discussion

Fig 2. Analysis Graph

Parameters Percentage

TPR 85.1

FPR 78.7

Precision 60.6

Recall 85.1

F-Measure 78.8

Accuracy 94.4

Table 1. Comparative table

Conclusion

They had design and implement distributed framework using Work Queue and the HTCondor system to address the scalability challenge of the problem. In the given solutions they explicitly consider the source reliability, source credibility. They evaluated the SRTD scheme using three real world data traces collected from Twitter. The empirical results showed our solution achieved significant performance gains on both to detect dynamic truth discovery and frequently occurred information in social media sensing applications. The performance of that system gained both, to detect dynamic truth discovery and frequently occurred information in social media sensing application for noisy and sparse data.

TV shows like John Stewart, the Daily Show brings attention to how effective the use of satire in The Daily Show is and the positive political effect it has on people. Some people might define political satire as something you gain entertainment, some also might define it as something used with subversive intent, where political speech and dissent are forbidden by the government. TV shows like the Daily Show with Jon Stewart, the Colbert Report, and Saturday night live are prime examples of satire. Satire is being used for current political events and other events in a comedic and humorous tone to prove its effectiveness and they prove just that. Recent research has proven not only how effective the use of satire is but many authors and writers proved that as well. This research discusses the impact satire has on people’s views on political issues and how much people rather watch television shows like the Daily Show talk because it educates them as well as entertain them. It shows the impact comedy shows have on popular culture today. They are tuning in more on recent elections and political issues. Comedians like John Stewart, The Daily Show segment “Catching Racism” gives you this image of how satirical expression helps encourage people to comment on real controversial issues and the image they are trying to give their intended audience. Also, it proves the values the communities have on fake news.

In the Daily Show’s recent segment “Catching Racism” the author Jon Stewart effectively convince the emotional appeal of how his audience people learn more about political issues and other real controversial issues to get a better understanding of things. The Daily Show segment “Catching Racism” uses satire to show people how wrong it is to use native culture for mascots and logos being used in today’s football. The short clip from The Daily Show shows an enormous amount of satirical expression being used as a rhetorical choice seen in the clip to prove their point. Satire is the use of humorous and joking expressions or freedom of speech.

In this segment, the author Jon Jones gives the audience a view on how you can take a serious topic, turn it into something that will entertain people, and get a debate out of them. Debates that turn into a real discussion where people of different opinions, change their opinion within the discussion. Jones comically gives you something so serious and sensitive and makes it be more humorous to lighten the audience’s mood up so they won’t feel so uncomfortable with talking about real issues like racism and he did just that. The short clip of The Daily Show shows two groups of people being interviewed by Jones. One group was the Redskin fans and the other group was the native activists. They talk about how Washington’s Redskins’ and how the name should be changed because it’s very degrading and racist to the Native Americans. These groups were given an opportunity to explain their opinions on what they think about this particular topic and what can be done to change how people view things. Actually, think about things, and come to a perspective on showing some emotional appeals to the situation. Throughout the interview, there were tons of examples showing the rhetorical use of satire.

During the interview, the segment had tons of examples that were seen in the short clip. One example was when one of the natives spoke about ‘The Annenberg’ report. He said, ‘It was conducted in Pennsylvania by self-identifying indigenous people, which means it could have been anyone of the streets that say, oh my great great great grandmother was a Cherokee Princess” followed by him saying “come on who would do that?”(4:08-4:19) as seen in the next clip, Redskins fan doing just that. The Redskin fans respond to that by saying “My great great grandfather was full blood Cherokee” and Jones asks, well “Show of hands, who has Cherokee? Any native Americans”.(4:22-4:26) The whole group of Redskin fans raised their hands as high as they can, to prove that in some form or way they were partially Cherokee. It was funny to the audience because they knew that was a lie.

Another example would be during the interview, when one of the natives said, ‘Redskins is a bounty’ and follow by that another native says, ‘It meant proof of Indian kill.” Jones responded with “Well when you put it like that, it sounds terrible.”(2:29-2:35) With this hilarious expression on his face, where he didn’t think of something in that way and now that he rethinks on it, his perspective changed. The Daily Show has a ton of credibility that shows the satirical side of this segment and how you can take something important and turn it to be comical. That’s the whole point of The Daily Show and their whole concept for this segment. Jones doesn’t want people to feel attacked while talking about a serious controversial topic like racism.

Amarnath Amarasingam the Stewart/Colbert Effect discusses the issues in politics and how using satire to bring entertainment and comedy gives the audience a much more effective way to understand the significance of political communication. This book gives an economic and social view of how today’s pop culture views politics and how using sartorial expression is becoming more helpful for people to understand the real issues of the political world. An example of that would be “The Daily Show is both tentative and preliminary. We offer it as a way to encourage a broader discussion of how to analyze and hold accountable the expanding range of media which provide political information to Americans.” (pg.191) this relates to my thesis because it expands television by making it more in-depth, analyzing the important issues in a creative and hilarious way. Another example connecting to my thesis would be “There is reason to believe that The Daily Show in some ways does better than many traditional sources of political information” said, Amarasingam (pg. 191) proving how effective the use of satire in The Daily Show is and the positive political effect it has on people.

The sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live is another example show that gives you Fake news on real political issues comically. In Outi Hakola’s Saturday Night Live article “Political Impersonations on Saturday Night Live during the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election” published in the European Journal of American studies in 2016, platforms the use of impersonating and joking about political views influences communities to see the whole point of the humor is to have a decisive impact on political issues. The article describes how satire is used for crises and the main reason they use it is to help improve humanity by criticizing its follies and Imperfection. Hakola argues how important it is to use satire and how communities are now getting more involved in political issues and actually acknowledging the value of it all. Hakola proves that by saying, “exposing communities to political satirical use provokes the negative emotion to disappear, which give these communities a political reason to participate.” This relates to my thesis because it talks about the effects it has on these communities and young pop culture today. My research shows a great number of examples to prove just that. Joking about political topics puts pressure on misinformation on issues and gives communities valid purposes to go out and do more, like taking part in elections or political discussions as well as marching and giving people your opinion on events and things that happen worldwide. Another proven point to my research would be how “It gives the communities motivation to want to know more about different political controversial issues” said, Hakola. Manifest that using satire to get a message through to communities does impact them in many ways.

Getting the communities in tune with government/political issues has always been something very important. People like Joanna Doona whose article ‘Political comedy engagement: Identity and community construction’ discusses communities and political issues on how satire is used in today’s pop culture. Doona’s article gives you an insight into how influential comedians can be. Comedians intend to use a positive effect to get their point across by using satire. It also discusses the role of these satirical news shows and how it puts a positive effect on the public. Doona’s article expresses the values the communities have on fake news. This article relates to my thesis because of its relevance to my primary source on how pop culture focuses more on fake news than real news.

Sarah Burton’s “More than Entertainment: The role of satirical News in Dissent Deliberation and Democracy” article deliberate how significant satirical is when it comes down to a debate or discussion on politics. It discusses the impact and how much people talk about recent elections and political issues. Burton argues on how it helped encourage people to comment on real controversial issues and the image they are trying to give their intended audience. This relates to my thesis because it gives specific detail about its effective use of satire and how it helps people feel compatible enough to comment on political discussion.

The journalism industry is forever growing and changing as time passes, but one major development in the past five years which has altered the way journalism is performed is ‘Fake News’. Fake news has various impacts on the industry, both positive and negative.

Fake news is ‘yellow journalism’ or propaganda that involves deliberate falsification of news that is spread via the media. The main suspects are normally reporters outsourcing for stories, which is evidently unethical. The boom of the digital age has revealed increased usage of fake news. This type of news is normally spread via social media, such as Twitter, but on occasion, slips into the mainstream media as well.

Fake news is produced with the intent to deceive in order to cause damage or ruin a reputation of an entity, agency, or person. It is also sometimes written for financial/political gain. The headlines of these ‘news’ pieces often include sensationalist, dishonest or fabricated information to increase readership, also known digitally as ‘clickbait’. Its relevance has increased in post-truth politics.

For the media, the ability to attract viewers to their websites, via ‘clicks’, is necessary to generate advertising revenue online. Fake news has a positive impact towards advertisers and media outlets through publishing stories with misleading information that attracts an audience and boosts ratings. The rise of social media, increased political division and ease of access to online advertisement earnings have all been contributing factors to the spread of fake news, which is in competition with relevant, factual news stories. Belligerent political candidates have also been accused of creating fake news, primarily during elections.

As fake news begins to appear in more and more places, serious media coverage is being undermined and it is becoming more difficult for journalists to report on significant and relevant news stories. The term ‘fake news’ is also often used to steer away from legitimate news from an opposite political standpoint, this is also known as the ‘lying press’ (derogatory political term used for the printed press and the mass media at large, as a propaganda tactic to discredit the free press).

The term ‘fake news’ is most commonly known to be heavily used by President of the United States, Donald Trump, during and after his presidential campaign. In this context, he used it as blame towards the negative press coverage of himself. As a result of Trump’s use of the term, it has come under increasing scrutiny, and in October 2018, the British government made the decision to no longer use the term because it is “a poorly-defined and misleading term that conflates a variety of false information from genuine error through to foreign interference in democratic processes.” Along with this, the term was also coined word of the year in 2017.

After criticism that social media organisations are failing to combat fake news, Facebook, Google and Twitter have all announced ways in which they plan to tackle this false information being spread online. Facebook says it is enlisting fact checkers to flag disputed stories, cutting of advertising earnings to fake news sites, and better reviewing advertisements shown on their site. Twitter says it has become better at dealing with bots, and Google has promised better algorithms.

Critics still argue that fake news is ever present and that not enough is being done to combat its prevalence, and that large companies are hesitant to take action, in fear of being viewed as biased, or of being seen to accept that they are publishers. Facebook is now seen as the most powerful media platform on the planet, but repeatedly says it is not a media company.

News stories are often described as ‘so good you couldn’t make it up’, which is generally what makes them good news stories. But expressing scepticism about it all is valid and asking yourself; could this actually happen?

Introduction

In the digital age, social media has emerged as a powerful tool for information dissemination, connecting people across the globe. However, along with its many benefits, social media has also given rise to a pressing issue: the proliferation of fake news. Fake news, deliberately false or misleading information presented as factual news, has become a pervasive problem in social media platforms. This essay aims to provide an analytical perspective on fake news in social media, exploring its causes, consequences, and potential solutions.

Causes of Fake News in Social Media

Several factors contribute to the prevalence of fake news in social media. Firstly, the ease of content creation and sharing on these platforms has lowered the barriers to entry. Anyone with internet access can create and disseminate news-like content, often without accountability or fact-checking processes. This democratization of information has enabled the rapid spread of fake news.

Secondly, social media algorithms prioritize engagement and user satisfaction. The algorithms are designed to show users content that aligns with their interests and preferences, creating personalized echo chambers. This can inadvertently amplify fake news, as controversial or sensationalist content tends to generate higher engagement. The profit-driven nature of social media platforms also contributes to the proliferation of fake news, as it attracts more users and advertising revenue.

Consequences of Fake News in Social Media

The consequences of fake news in social media are significant and wide-ranging. Firstly, it erodes public trust in traditional news sources and institutions. When users are exposed to a constant barrage of false or misleading information, they become skeptical of all news, making it challenging to distinguish between credible and fake sources.

Moreover, fake news has the potential to manipulate public opinion and influence democratic processes. During elections or other important events, false information can be strategically spread to deceive and sway voters, undermining the integrity of the democratic process. Fake news can also exacerbate social and political polarization, as individuals become entrenched in their own beliefs and perspectives, further deepening divisions in society.

Solutions to Combat Fake News in Social Media

Addressing the issue of fake news in social media requires a multi-pronged approach involving various stakeholders. Firstly, social media platforms must take responsibility for curbing the spread of fake news. They can improve their algorithms to prioritize accurate and reliable information, enhance content moderation efforts, and implement fact-checking mechanisms. Transparency in algorithmic decision-making and disclosure of content promotion practices can also promote accountability.

Media literacy plays a crucial role in empowering users to critically evaluate the information they encounter on social media. Educational institutions, in collaboration with tech companies and non-profit organizations, should prioritize media literacy programs that teach individuals how to identify fake news, verify sources, and navigate the complexities of social media effectively.

Collaboration between social media platforms, fact-checking organizations, and traditional media outlets is vital. By working together, they can develop shared standards for content verification, establish fact-checking partnerships, and promote reliable sources of information. Fact-checking labels and warnings can be applied to misleading content, enabling users to make informed decisions about the credibility of the information they encounter.

Government regulation and policy interventions may also be necessary to address the challenges posed by fake news in social media. Legislation can encourage transparency in social media platforms’ content algorithms, require disclosure of funding sources for political advertisements, and impose consequences for spreading deliberate misinformation. However, care must be taken to balance the regulation with the need to protect free speech and avoid undue censorship.

Conclusion

The prevalence of fake news in social media poses significant challenges in the information age. Understanding its causes, consequences, and potential solutions is crucial for mitigating its impact on society. By holding social media platforms accountable, promoting media literacy, fostering collaboration between stakeholders, and implementing appropriate regulations, we can strive to create a digital landscape where accurate and reliable information prevails, fostering an informed and resilient society.

Over the past decades, social media has become a major component in the modern human society. We tend to use this technology for both entertainment as well as acknowledging news around the world. While news can bring us precise and realistic information regarding the world around us, it can also be manipulated into fake news that aim to strike with a purpose. Nowadays, it is easier for others to generate fake news since most of the people across the world obtain their information through internet. The reason why they are so gullible is that they do not know what is happening. Moreover, human beings have the tendency of accepting news that will benefit them and neglect the cruel truth. Therefore, fake news can ruin a nation.

At the beginning, fake news has been widely spread across the internet over the past decades. A series of fake news regarding both educations and video games are posted online in order to change the perspectives of parents. For instance, in a news article, study shows that music does not help students with their learning. Not only that, it will only make their effort less efficient. This will drag down their quality of learning which in return can make them fail their exams and assignments. However, in another new article, it shows how music can improve an individual’s memorization and his focus while studying. These two news article contradict with each other. Family members who adopt listening to music ruins study efficiency will embrace this strategy on their kids. This will only create a conflict between parents if the other parent adapts to the other strategy where listening to music does help learning. Not only that, series of fake news have been imposed on video games as well. For example, when it comes to video games, different parents form different perspectives about it. Some believes video games are dangerous and cause young people to like violence actions while other treat it as an important step in growing up. These two perspectives come from the news that these parents are reading. Parents who believe video games are harmful likely have read the news where it shows an increase in physical aggression after playing a game that includes violent actions. In the other hand, parents who treat it with calm perspective must believe their kids can learn something from it. Games like Assassin’s creed is filled with rich historical background which can intrigue teenager’s interest in learning more about related environments. All in all, fake news can change a kid’s environment while growing up. Parents who believes in the statement from fake news will oppose those who adapt to the real ones. If both of them live under the same roof, there is tension which can potential tear up the relationship between them. Fake news are harmful and it should be eliminated.

Furthermore, fake news can destroy a person. In this entertainment to death era, human beings would like to ask for celebrities’ gossip in leisure time rather than caring about their contribution. However, lots of rumors and gossips are the fake news which is used for attracting public’s eyes. Fake news affect famous people a lot not only the mental but also the body health. Due to the fact that internet has a rapidly transmission speed, then there will be hundreds of people who is surfing the internet to attract him even though these rumors are the fake news. which is harmful for the famous people’s mental health. The famous singer Michael Jackson dead due to the fake news frame him up. Dentist Evan Chandler accused that Michael Jackson had sexually abused his son. However, this is a fake news, Chandler’s purpose was to threaten Michael Jackson. However, after this fake news spread during the report and internet, the public started to insanely accuse Michael Jackson. That causes huge mental pressure which is the prime reason causes his death. In a word, spreading the fake news is harmful for a person, and fake news is like a murderer.

Finally, fake news can potentially lead to Internet fraud. There are some people want to get money by internet. They would like to deceive others’ sympathy to package themselves like a helpless person. There always be kind person in the world, and they would like to help others. However, they did not realize that is a trap waiting for them. Fake news lead to lots of people lost their money and cannot get them back. Nowadays, internet fraud hidden everywhere in the internet. They use some sweet words to ask for your money. Some of them will illustrate their fake identity which will attract your sympathy.

In a words, internet is like a huge jungle, each of type of birds are living there. The quality of birds is also not the same. We need to distinguish the real and fake. In the real life, fake news cannot harm others and benefit oneself.

Work Cite

1. Bob Yirka, Medical Xpress. “New study shows violent video games do not make teens more aggressive” medicalpress.13 February 2019. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2019-02-violent-video-games-teens-aggressive.html
2. Carolina Kuepper-Tetzel. “Listening to Music while Studying: A Good or a Bad Idea?” thelearningscientists.10 Nov. 2018. http://www.learningscientists.org/blog/2016/11/10-1
3. Sharuna Segaren. “Does listening to music while studying make you a better student?” sinews.1 January. 2019. https://www.studyinternational.com/news/does-listening-to-music-while-studying-make-you-a-better-student/
4. Ben Sisario. “What We Know About Michael Jackson’s History of Sexual Abuse Accusations?” thenewyorktimes. Jan. 31, 2019. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/31/arts/music/michael-jackson-timeline-sexual-abuse-accusations.html

INTRODUCTION

This report will discuss the impact of fake news on education. The definition of fake news and each impact will be stated. After research has been conducted and stated, a conclusion will be included at the end of the report to state what the findings were.

WHAT IS FAKE NEWS?

Fake news is made-up news, manipulated to look like credible journalistic reports that are designed to deceive us. The internet has become the primary and primary sources of news and information, but unfortunately not everything online is true and trustworthy.

• Fake news is false information intended to trick readers into believing it to be reliable and correct information
• Fake news is any articles or video that contains incorrect information that persuades the reader or viewer as true and from reliable news source. Unfortunately, pseudo-news is not unique on the internet. False news has recently become a major problem in the digital word.

Fake news has a huge impact on education. These impacts will be discussed in the next chapter of the report.

IMPACT OF FAKE NEWS ON EDUCATION

As children and young people have increased access to social media, so they are more exposure to read and believe in fake news, This effects children as they believing the wrong news which has no reliable source and they might share it with their young siblings and friends in school and spread around the young people.

Fake news which reach children and young people might cause a lot of series problems as their thinking will be changed this is because they receive the wrong information.

For example: on BBC articles a girl called Chloe, she shared a hoax story about the alleged death of her favourite actor, Sylvester Stallone. ‘’I thought it was real and shared it with family members. A lot of people were quite upset,’’ she says. When the truth became clear that Sylvester Stallone was alive and well, Chloe says she felt foolish. ‘I should have looked into it a bit more before posting,’’ she adds. The group of MPs has a report which says failing for fake or false news can harm children’s ‘’wellbeing, trust in journalism and democracy itself’’. The all-party parliamentary group on literacy heard proof that fake news could make worried, nervous, it might also effects their self-esteem and awry their view of the world.

A lot of young people and students do not have the ability to compare between real and fake news and information found online

Fake news and stories spread through the election with the aim extol or insult either nominee, as stated in news analysis by Buzz Feed News. The analysis was found discovered that the top fake election news stories produced more engagement on Facebook than the top stories from main news accesses like the protector, CNN and fox news in the seven months leading up to the election.

An example of one of these stories is “Thousands of Fraudulent Clinton Votes Found in Ohio Warehouse,” spread by the Christian Times and written by a recent college graduate, who after admit it to be fake. Another example is “FBI Agent Suspected in Hillary Email Leaks Found dead,” published by the Denver Guardian on Nov. 5, 2016. From that day forward, to fight the propagation of fake news on social media, Facebook administrative have been using synthetic smartness to reveal words or method that are denotative of fake news stories, as stated by Forbes.

The Stanford study, posted in November accorded to the survey was 7,804 students from middle school age to college age asked question about online information. It says that young people’s capability to reason as the information they found online as ‘’bleak.’’ This indicates that young peoples are not able to identify the incorrect information menace democracy itself.

Fake news is danger of technology progression and networking because it happen at all-time but at this time as young people are active on social media sites, they can see the various viral posts and pictures which impacts on their mentality towards things in life.

The fake news has w huge reach across the internet and a lot of people might believe those incorrect news because these are spread in a way looks like realistic. Students and young people are more exposure to fake news and viral posts and that’s because they are not mature enough to have the capability to reveal recognise the fake news as they can easily affected by the fake news sources and it effects their learning culture.

Fake news can affect behaviour, too. It encourages students to think of excuses to reject and confuse other students’ ideas. , to exaggerate the truth, and to spread rumour. This can make split, nervousness at schools where students are sarcastic and unsure of who to trust.

THE SOURCES OF FAKE NEWS AND HOW IT SPREAD AROUND THE WORLD

Social media like Facebook, Instagram, snapchat and twitter. From my perspective this is the fastest way to spread anything people wants to share and this because when a person post something, there will be a people seeing this post and they might share it with others. However, especially when this post includes fake news as fake news spread faster than real news, this is because incorrect news attract the attention of society, especially young people in their teenager age as they doesn’t have experience enough to have good knowledge about people who post fake news for some reason.

It could be also from school where friend said a fake story news and other student believed it, this can spread very easy as student tell other student in another class and this student who been told the fake story/news might share it with the class, the class students could share it with their siblings and social friends.

Google is a way for people who wants to post fake news and share it with others, as they can make a fake site a similar to top and know site. At this time a lot people are reaching to internet and those people who doesn’t have access to social media or they’re not interested in these apps, most of them using google to search for news or any other things they wants to know about as a lot of fake news on google can be found.

Fake news can spread on YouTube where can anyone make a YouTube channel using a famous YouTuber name with a little bit of changing, e.g. real YouTuber channel name is: Noor stars and fake YouTuber channel name will be Noor starss, so it seems the same person to others, they might not realise the small difference and believe in what they hear. This person might take some videos from that popular YouTuber channel and download them to this fake YouTube channel, after that he start to share the news or the subject he wants to share and reaches others. This can spread very quick as I mentioned earlier those people who seeing the video could not see the simple difference and a thousands and millions of people might watch that video which include wrong information. However, unfortunately some people do not double check if those news are correct or not, they could share it with others and that’s how it spreads around the world.

Fake news can spread on TV where TV news channel is against a popular news channel, as this fake new channel wants to reach a to a high viewers number. This channel will provide news as opposed to the correct news provided by the original news channel. Some people might believe it and share it with others, this is how the fake news can increase and expand.

As I made some of researchers regarding how students think about fake news I found an interesting websites as students giving their own opinion about the fake news issue.

Here’s an enjoyable website to look at, this site includes students’ opinions and their own thinking regarding to fake news and media in writing and there’s also a good video to watch on this site too:

NewsHour, P. and NewsHour, P. (2019). This is what students think about ‘fake news’ and the media. [online] PBS NewsHour. Available at: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/this-is-what-students-think-about-fake-news-and-the-media [Accessed 24 Apr. 2019].

THE SOLUTION

Students should check the sources of the news they read so they can spot it if it’s correct or fake. In my opinion schools can solve this problem by teaching the students and help them how to spot those fake news, schools should make students aware of fake news and how it’s dangerous on their mind-set and on their education. Students should look attentively at the source and think carefully before making their decision.

Schools can help students how to spot fake news by teaching them easy steps to follow when they see any news online sites, so they can learn and be able to identify the fake news, these steps are:

1. Students should develop their critical mind sets because a lot of people trying to make ‘’shock’’ value which means, they just want to get attention from these young people and that’s because young people are more active on social media and they are more likely to share those news with their siblings and friends and these news can spreads in this way, specially by using social media.
2. Students should check the sources if they come across a story or news from a source that they’ve never heard of before and find out a bit more about the publisher, think about and examine it – is it professional and popular news or is it someone’s personal blog as counterfeit sited using a valid, real and known news sites with a little changing in the name or website URL, e.g. real news website will be: www.uknews.live.com , and fake news website will be: www.uknews.com .
3. Students also need to check those news if it’s correct by using other websites for the same information news. However, if they have the accessible to those news on top news sites then they can be sure that the news they have read is correct and trusted and if not then, she’s should be able to classify this to fake news. When people are trying to figure out the fake news and find the differentiation between real and fake news, this called fact check.
4. Students should check if the story or news sounds true and believable by use their own common sense to identify if it’s true or unbelievable story, for example: it’s unbelievable and unlikely that a very expensive gold jewellery brand is giving away a million free gold jewellery sets to people who turn up their stores. however, they also need to know, just because it sounds right doesn’t mean that it is all the time because sometimes might be not true as they need to double check the information they’ve read and ask others, it’s preferred to ask an adult and educated person or check top and popular sites where they’re not able to classify this information to fake or real news.

Here’s a useful website about how can young people and students identify fake news and a discussion between the students: BBC News. (2019). Fake news: Can teenagers spot it? [Online] Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-46206675 [Accessed 24 Apr. 2019].

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, this essay affected me as an individual in many ways. Firstly, I was able to identify what is the meaning of fake news, the cause of fake news. I learnt how this issue effects students in their education study and how it impacts on their personal life. I learnt new things which I can use it in my future. I’m fully understanding how to differentiate between the correct and false new and which sites can be trusted and which ones not. During my research to fake news I was able to identify the fake news sources and where they come from, so I’m familiar with this now. I would like to use my knowledge in fake news to support my family and friends to spot fake news and incorrect stories so I can spread these information around the people I know and these people can share it with others as well so we can get rid of fake news.

REFERENCE:

1. Anon, (2019). [Online] Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-44454844 14/04/2019 [Accessed 24 Apr. 2019].
2. Anon, (2019). [Online] Available at: https://theithacan.org/news/students-lack-awareness-of-fake-news/ https://www.jagranjosh.com/articles/fake-news-is-a-hazard-school-students-should-understand-and-identify-it-1522931035-1 [Accessed 24 Apr. 2019].
3. Haut, S. (2019). Students lack awareness of fake news | The Ithacan. [Online] Theithacan.org. Available at: https://theithacan.org/news/students-lack-awareness-of-fake-news/ [Accessed 24 Apr. 2019].