My View

The issues of fake news and the possibility of getting rid of it

Fake news is a false piece of information with not enough sources or backup verifiable facts. The wide spreading of false information, whether it is posted with the belief that it is true (misinformation) or deliberately created just to deceive people (disinformation), is becoming a major problem (University of Michigan Library, 2021). Unlike in the past, the Internet and social media have become the main sources of information (West, 2017). It is more comfortable for people to use smartphones to browse different news websites for free instead of buying a new traditional newspaper every single day. Social media platforms are frequently used to spread fake news because it is probably the easiest way to do so. All you need is a false piece of information and a few users who would share the post without fact-checking it beforehand. Then, more and more people click the share button, and the post becomes viral. Moreover, considering the average amount of time that is spent on social media daily, the users are exposed to fake news often and repeatedly. Something needs to be done as soon as possible to stop this, as it may result in people losing trust in the news overall.

 

Throughout the years, several examples of fake news have appeared. However, in current times, most of them are related to the coronavirus pandemic and the vaccine. In this situation, learning to recognise fake news and telling them apart from reliable facts, is more important than ever. With the ongoing vaccination, people must decide if they want to get vaccinated or not. Sadly, many people do not realize this and consume both verified information and fake news. We have already heard many myths about the side effects of the vaccine, which were later debunked. However, there are still individuals who believe these myths. Often, it is not even the people’s fault. They cannot be blamed for something they were not educated on or expected to know something they were not taught. What is more, fake news might be difficult to spot even for people who are aware of it. For an average person, it might be problematic to differentiate between real and fake information, even when they are aware of what to pay attention to. This becomes a problem as fake news related to the coronavirus is connected to people's health and might even affect it.

Although the issue of fake news is complex and hard to resolve, several steps should be taken to combat it. Unfortunately, for this to happen, governments and large companies with huge social media impact would need to act. Fake news is not possible to stop from spreading just overnight. Except for regulating posts on social media and making rules to slow down or fully prevent sharing of fake news, it is also important to educate people about the dangers of using social media. It would be best if media literacy was taught at school, so people would gain the knowledge at a young age and would have an idea of how the media works. By raising the awareness of fake news, people would pay more attention to what they read and could protect themselves better. If more people would be able to recognize fake news, posts with this type of content would have a lower reach and overall, it would slow down the process of spreading misinformation.

Refererence List:

Research Guides: (2021, October 26). University of Michigan Library. Retrieved December 5, 2021, from https://guides.lib.umich.edu/fakenews

West, D. M. (2017, December 18). How to combat fake news and disinformation. Brookings. Retrieved December 5, 2021, from https://www.brookings.edu/research/how-to-combat-fake-news-and-disinformation/