Free Essay: Fake News as a Technology-Related Issue in Society

Technology is a significant determinant in the development of a certain region or a state. It is therefore essential that the technology advances to promote further, the progress of the society. There are however technological related issues that may influence the society through various negative ways. The use of social media has continuously initiated the spread of "fake news" globally. The circulation of false information was significantly notable during the 2016 campaigns for the United States elections of the presidency. The intentional misinformation is a threat to the democracy of an informed society and to the general coexistence of the members of the society. From the incidences of the 2016 U.S elections, misleading and false news and stories have increasingly attracted attention. Many users of the internet and social media believed in the news about Donald Trump despite its failure to influence the election outcomes. (Allcott & Gentzkow, 2017). The increasing reliance on social media has enhanced the vulnerability of the public to false information. A survey indicates that over 67% of American adults have access to news from the social media such as Facebook (Gottfried & Shearer, 2017). The research paper intends to describe the issue of "fake news" as a problem in the society. The essay also describes the social causes of the spread of misinformation in a certain region. The paper shall also discuss the spread of the issue and give suggestions on the possible solutions to the problems that result from the circulation of fake news.

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Fake news has in the recent years become a dominant issue among various different states and media. The problem of fake news has hit the social media and the internet, in general, more significantly than other forms of media (Burkhardt, 2017a). Biased news has a great potential to mislead and misinform around the world. Social media and the internet have facilitated the speed and the magnitude with which the news spread. For instance, Facebook and Twitter and Instagram are currently the prominent means through which fake news spread. Burkhardt (2017a) further states that there are technological software such as the bots algorithms that experts perceive as the main causes that manipulate information and as such, disrupt communication process on social media platforms. The extent of damage that the spread of fake news has caused has been detrimental until the World Economic Forum has listed it as one of the key threats to the ethics of the society.

The spread of fake news date back to the pre-printing era which was characterized by the use of stones and clay was prevalent more than a thousand years ago. However, the post-printing era has catalyzed the spread of the biased information especially to the illiterate members of the society. Researchers reveal that there were cases of internet experts developing hoax websites that helped in the spread of biased news. There are several illustrations that give instances of fake news that spread over the recent past. Martinlutherking.org gives an illustration of a web portal that spread the misinformation about civil rights activists by tainting his name, literature works, and his lifestyle.

The Spread of the Problem

The most common platform that initiates the spread of the fake news is the entertainment, satire and parody type of social media. The entertainment platforms are meant to amuse and as such contain sinister motives. The advertisers are currently the main financiers of the internet and social media. The key aim of advertisers is to deliver their products to a high population of people who serve as potential customers. Websites that are popular record high number of visits hence appropriate to business advertisers. The websites hosts, due to the large fees that advertisers pay to drive them to publish famous and popular information to enhance the large quantity of visits.

Scandals, rumors and gossip and the unlikely events and scenes tend to attract large numbers of visits. Survey reveals that a large number of people tend to keep the memories of a sensational or negative publication despite the emergence of the truth about the same issue (Burkhardt, 2017b). Advertisers have interest on the number of people that access their products and not the degree of truth in their information. A survey indicates that sites that publish sensational and suggestive information have high popularity and as such, attract opportunities for advertisement. The writers of such popular information receive high compensation without regard to the quality of the content. The factor of popularity has driven the websites to post anything which can attract large numerous of portal visits. It is through the efforts to increase the advertisement abilities that promote fake news rather than factual information. The problem seems to have spread to a global context.

Causes of the Social Problem

Social media is the main cause for the spread of fake news. The use of social media as a tool for advertisement to certain groups in the recent years has promoted the spread of the social issue. Information on most social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter entails personal category. The social platforms provide convenient and appropriate ways to share information and enhance connections. Likes responds and sharing have significant implications for the spread of any information.

Bots as programs have promoted the use of social media by the advertisers, politicians and news sources to share new information. Bots provide an easier method to access information concerning their topics of interests. When the target groups view the information, the bots program advances the same information to friends and followers. A report from Imperva Incapsula's of 2015 on impersonator revealed traffic trends on bots (Burkhardt, 2017b). Politicians have employed bots for gathering and sharing information. There have been efforts to enhance the direction of people towards a certain direction. The false news also intends to misdirect and spread propaganda about the people and certain issues. There are various ways through which social media is initiating the spread of misinformation.

The "democratization of the media is the main cause of the spread of false information. The social media has, in turn, eroded the ethics of democracies in several countries. The freedom of the media permits any individual to make any blog and upload on twitter or youtube. For instance, Youths in Macedonia have created a group of fake news. The youths' in the group lead to the spread of misinformation in the country and as such causing panic among the youths in the region.

Social media has also led to enhance the fragmentation of the attention of people that constitute the audience. People due to the liberty of social media have made them, to resort to various sources of information. Most people divert their attention to sources that they perceive as appealing and interesting. The increasing attention to appealing stories has promoted the financial and political strength of the media creators and as such, the issue information to advance in political interest without considering the degree of truth in their posts.

Moreover, social media platforms have algorithms that identify and record the type of posts that their audiences like and dislike. The media as such, enhance the time that audiences send on the platforms such as Twitter and Facebook. The long hours spent on social platforms breeds a conducive ecosystem for misinformation

Although a large percentage of the audience has an attraction for jokes and posts that seem to be funny, Parody culture may also promote the spread and sharing of information that has false content. The measure of likes, clicks, and shares on certain social media posts leads to privileges of provocation. The creators of social media content tend to publish provocative content with the use of a polarizing headline.

Solutions to the Social Issues

The consequences that associate with the spread of false information on the internet and social platforms are detrimental as they may lead to erosion of the ethical elements of the society. There is, therefore, need to establish and initiate techniques that can solve issues that relate to the internet and the social media. There is the need for a participatory process in gathering news. There is a link between facts, narrative, and emotion which is essential in involving the media consumers. Engaging the audiences of any social media platforms at initial stages of collecting information can enhance the reduction in the spread of misinformation (Barbera, Tucker, Guess, Vaccari, Siegel, Sanovich ... & Nyhan, 2018). The reporters share their intended news with their internet users during the processing of the news.

The issue of misinformation can also reduce through the employing verification of social media content. It will involve confirming the truthfulness of certain information before the posting stage on the social platform. Methods of social verification include debunking and backing up a post on social media by the addition of a credible link.

Supporting the literacy of the audience on matters of the internet and social media is an additional strategy that can help eradicate issues of misinformation. According to a survey by Barbera et al. (2018), a large group of people that constitute the audience of a certain social platform lacks the skills to identify accurate information. Organizations need to put efforts to promote education and knowledge to the internet users especially the young people. For instance, the Lamp involves the youth in verifying the accuracy of social information with the use of Media Breaker tool. It is therefore essential for the society to educate them the creation of fake news and its spread. Many users only view the search results that appear on the first page and as such vulnerable to accessing misinformation.

The members of the society need to be careful on the people they friend on social media and the sites they visit. Information is in most cases delivered to us rather than the users making a request for the same. Friends and followers eventually comment and are likely to share the same information. Burkhardt, (2017) reveals that various social media users fail to make considerations when accepting friend requests on social media platforms. Many social media users measure their popularity through the list of friends they have as their followers. The long list of friends makes most users feel good as they perceive themselves as successful due to the friends agreeing with most of their sentiments. There is a tendency of users perceiving friend requestors as friends and not strangers and as such, a percent of trust accompanies the psychological change of perception. The friends form a crucial circle to the source of information. There are trust and belief that the friends are harmless and mean good amongst the users. However, researchers and survey have revealed that the friends can act as bots. The friends can specialize in collecting and disseminating information and news that other friends on the platforms like. The trust in friends who are likely to be bots makes any information they share to be plausible without verification of its accuracy. If the bots that human users befriend have a large network of followers, the spread of misleading and faulty news becomes enormous. There is, therefore, need for the social media users to verify and identify the people they accept as friends on the platform.