Anthony Perez – You really can’t believe everything you read on the internet.
The prevalence of fake news is at an all-time high. By making the sharing of information as easy as the click of a button, social media platforms have breathed life into the fake news phenomenon. All that was needed for it to catch fire was a spark—one that came in the form of a contentious US presidential campaign.
According to a study conducted by BuzzFeed news, in the last three months of the US presidential campaign, the 20 top-performing false election stories from hoax sites and hyper-partisan blogs generated 8,711,000 shares, reactions, and comments on Facebook, while the 20 top-performing election stores from 19 major news websites generated a total of 7,367,000.
An example of a fake news story going viral was an article by Ending the Fed, which proclaimed that Pope Francis endorsed Donald Trump for the presidency. Another example was an article from The Political Insider, which claimed that Hillary Clinton sold weapons to ISIS.
To get an insider’s perspective on the fake news phenomenon, The Intersect, a Washington Post blog, interviewed Paul Horner, a long-time professional fake news creator. Business was good for Horner during the presidential campaign, and he spoke candidly about the reasons why. In his words, “people are definitely dumber. They just keep passing stuff around. Nobody fact-checks anything anymore.” Further, he said “there’s nothing you can’t write about now that people won’t believe.” As evidence, he shared a story about how he fabricated a story involving a protestor getting paid $3,500 to protest at one of Trump’s rallies, and that the article was shared by Donald Trump’s campaign manager.
Earlier this month, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg responded to the criticism Facebook has received for its role in this phenomenon. Zuckerberg was dismissive of the notion that Facebook was the largest platform for misinformation, suggesting that “ninety-nine percent of what people see is authentic.” He also rejected the notion that Facebook is a news or media outlet company, although others are suggesting it is after a study conducted by PEW Research Center indicated that 44% of Americans read or watch news on Facebook.
Undoubtedly, Facebook is in a precarious situation. The fight against fake news stories could collaterally damage satirical or opinion pieces. Such collateral damage, whether intentional or not, could harm Facebook’s reputation as a neutral, non-partisan platform. In fact, Gizmodo recently reported that Facebook quashed a previous anti-fake news initiative because it feared the initiative would have damaged conservative news sites more than liberal ones.
However, Facebook’s most recent statements indicate that it may be up for the fight after all. Zuckerberg outlined steps Facebook is prepared to take to curb the spread of fake news, including labeling potentially misleading sources and using third parties to help flag fake stories.
While Facebook is figuring out how to wage this war, it is up to consumers to bring down these hoax sites and articles. This is unquestionably a fight worth fighting—a democracy filled with uninformed voters is perilous, but one consisting of misinformed voters might be even worse. Thus, it is imperative that consumers fact-check and validate sources before sharing informative articles.
