Examining Fake News on Social Media - Paper Example

Most of the people in the world today depend on news producing firms for updates on very crucial matters that impact them directly as well as events such as national calamities. It is also from the news that the people are in a better position to internalize very complex issues or topics that affect the entire world. People also depend on the news during very critical moments in history such as voting periods where they rely on the information provided by the media about the candidates to make sound decisions of who to elect into certain posts (Shu et al., 23). The availability, as well as readability of the news, has improved so much because of the technological improvements in the internet and communication sectors. However, the sources of fake and unreliable news also tend to evolve their cheating ways thereby forcing most people to have a keen eye on the news stories they get to read as well as share on online platforms. Fake news on social media can be defined as that news that looks very much like the authentic journalistic news in its content, structure, or method of delivery but the main reason of it being passed around is to fulfill a given agenda or make a lot of income for the spreading organization by bring about a lot of controversy with their shocking headlines.

The spreading of such unreliable source on online platforms has left a large number of readers as well as viewers unaware about the validity of the news they find on social platforms. Recent studies have shown that most of the American citizens believe that fake news is the main problem and that they share without knowing about it only to realize later that the news were fake (Schifferes, 418). Studies are being done to find out how the idea of fake news has grown rapidly in the American social media as well as determine the different tactics the government should take to make sure that people use the social networks responsibly. For instance, in the print market, scandalous journalism has preceded over the internet as the main source of false news. In England, it took the form of bailing papers out of liquidity by changing them into minor publications that could be accessed by the readers on a daily basis. The tabloids were mainly focused on very vital topics such as celebrity gossips, marriage issues, infidelities, as well as substance use and addiction. They had very juicy headlines that attracted more customers to buy them thereby helping the falling firms to gain more money to stand up again.

News available on social media or the internet is prone to manipulation from biased or unacquainted sources. With the coming and evolution of the internet and technology, the social network users have created an information source that can be changed by any individual, at any given time, with any information that has not been censored. Facebook as well as Twitter has become the primary home for fake news as most of the news that are being conveyed are not assessed or filtered by legal bodies thereby making people to easily spread false and biased information. This criteria is credited to the growing industry of false news networks. The message on such platforms are highly designed to pass wrong or inaccurate as they most of the times circulate fictional stories in the news all over the social media. The other reason to as why there is a rise in the fake news is because the sites are developed by individuals who want to earn an income by placing advertisement content in the users social media feeds.

The main point to the purpose of the social network both post and pre-elections has given deleterious impact to the social activity of the people by arguing that they have determined socially important taste falsification, eradicated democratic culture, as well as resulting in an overall fall incivility of the people.

Ladies on online sites especially those of color have been the main targets of insults, murder, cyberstalking, and rape threats. It has also been argued that fake news issue is being amplified by the transmission of inaccurate, misleading, and false news that are being spread quickly and coming up with filter bubbles in which the consumers are only in position to view the materials that affirms their current biases (Ferrara, 4). Facebook has been named to be the leading source of circulation to fresh social site. For instance, it has been rumored that the Pope sanctioned Donald Trump, Hilary Clinton had illegal business with Islamic States, and the leak on Clintons email message was a section of the murder to suicide plans. All these news impacted the elections adversely. It has also been noted that the American President has now based his actions on social sites such as Breitbart for news and overlooking on the national intelligence briefings since he was sworn into presidency. Moreover, Twitter has been known to result in the creation of a disruptive and very offensive organization that is way far better than the way telegraph, cellphone, radio, or television did before it came into existence. These sites have resulted in wild undermining of democracy when they first came into fashion. They are also known to be uncovering the gaps that have found roots in the America people culture.

The result of the rise fake news is that the managers of the internet technology have been forced to disapprove and try to calm down the concerns brought forth by the public. Facebook manager Mark has ultimately banned any advertisement network on its page in attempt to lower the cases of misleading fake news that are being conveyed through it. The organizations have also tried to find credible associates and even come up with more options for the users to easily detect the fake news tales on the social media sites. Most of the internet websites as well as search engines have invested in driving the information towards trusted sources, raising the legality of the news, and enhancing the algorithms to lower the chances of the users coming in touch with false news on online platforms. In that case, most of these organizations have sworn to do all they can to restrict the posting of advertisement on the false or misleading news sites. It is also believed that most of these social media firms have a responsibility to regulate the intake or spread of false news to the people. However, some people believe that the firms have no legal right nor obligations to filter the news being given to the public. Most of people are very keen on the part played by the teenagers and the young adults in the promotion of fake news on the social sites because of their great presence on such networks. Studies have shown that youths aged between eighteen and twenty nine years have high probability of getting news from social media networks than any other age sects. This fact is forcing guardians, parents, as well as the educators to take it more seriously and wage a campaign aimed to enlighten the youths on the different ways they can use the social sites responsibly and come up with a sound sense of media literacy.

It has also been noted that fake news or information could be a concern to the American society today if the people themselves did not fall for it and help in spreading it. Studies suggest also that the psychology behind the intake of online news has to be fully internalized entirely for a solution to the so-called digital virus that is eroding our communities. Confirmation bias is the main cause of the fake news concern, which is simply because of peoples inner desire to read what fully affirms our beliefs thereby killing the truths behind certain things (Hedman, 368). However, the illustration does not give the core reason behind people faking information and presenting it to the market as legit and reliable news. The other explanation given to why fake news spreading is on the rise is because of the consumers partial inattention to the reliability of the sources from where we obtain the news. People do not want to pay respect to importance of understanding the journalistic sources of the news which results in the development of the lax attitude in conjunction with the difficulty of discerning online news sources all being the major reason people tend to highly believe on fake news that the truthful ones. Currently, news can be obtained through a variety of ways which comprise of emails or posts on social media sites. The classical information gatekeepers have been destroyed or been put aside making the politicians as well as the celebrities to be in position to reach an enormous number of their followers. This makes a fake information to go viral in a very short time without the information getting the right setting as well as fact-checking. The people working against the fake news issue do differ on some attributes but they were all realize to be against journalistic sourcing.

The availability of numerous sources of one particular news has been found to be the determining factor. The main sources of information comprise of magazines, politicians, newspapers, pals, Facebook, and Twitter. These sites have a very crucial role in conveying the news, by shadowing the real identity of the main source of information. This has taken the leading role in the news availed on online platforms, which makes the readers to fail in figuring out which among them is the real authentic site. The false news platforms have always offered links to papers or information that is not theirs. It has be found out that the news consumers often pay attention to the source chain if the subject of the story is of great significance to their lives (Kucharski, 526). If not the readers are most of the time moved by the source of the news or network that is known for republishing or posting the article. This implies people do like news sites such as Comcast, Verizon, as well as Facebook because they do not edit or manipulate the news that are being posted on their walls. This has been used by the politicians and other propagators of fake news in the society to publish news that is false which cannot be deleted or edited by any other individuals other than themselves. Fake news is also becoming rampant all thanks to our human weakness of always believing in our associates which thereby weakens our cognitive filters that in turn make the social media a very profitable area for false news to get its ways into our brains. People also look down on the experts information because they tend to protect the news when they face it in their personal space. The social media sites also provide portals that enable them to make customize the site to best serve our personal interests as well as label. This is also because of the failure by people to analyze the information presented to them on social platforms making them to fail to determine the credibility of the news before deciding to share it with their friends in different parts of the world.

In conclusion, fake news has deleterious impacts on the decision that people make on certain key issues in the areas of interests. For instance, it may make people vote for a wrong candidate because the opponent has been conveyed to a bad person in the news. The availability of many information sources is very critical in the confusion that makes people come into contact with fake news. The belief in friends and self also helps promote the spread of fake information from one source to the consumers in different parts of the world. The fact that it is only the owner of the social media platform to edit or delete information on the portal is the primary reason for the increased posting of false news. Parents, guardians, and teachers are doing all they can to teach their children how to use the internet and the social platforms responsibly. Work Cited

Shu, Kai, et al. "Fake News Detection on Social Media: A Data Mining Perspect...