Normalizing Fraud

Chloe Ruffennach
cr584116@ohio.edu

Photo from https://medium.com/@christina_39925/lil-miquela-the-new-it-girl-that-received-6m-funding-8dfd80febd05

It's easy to take things at face value. Especially on the internet, it's simple to see an article, photo or even a person and conclude that they're real and keep scrolling. However, the line between reality and fiction is becoming increasingly more blurry as technology improves. The development of technology, such as deep fakes or even animated models, has made navigating reality more difficult. It is harder to determine what can be taken as fact.

Influencers, in particular, are increasingly responsible for many of these deceptions. "Influencers" like Miquela are completely rendered by technology and do not exist outside of social media. She has been used to sell high-fashion products, creating the dilemma of using a fake person to advertise the benefits of already elite items. She is not the only instance of this occurring, however, with even "people" like Colonel Sanders being rendered to advertise KFC's products. This creates an issue of potentially normalizing and accepting false information and unrealistic expectations in advertising. It excuses and validates it, which has the potential to create a snowball effect.

Deep fakes are also creating more room for disbelief. Now, we can't even believe the videos we see, as they could be the creation of anyone with this advanced technology. Videos of celebrities or, even worse, our politicians can be subjected to this form of alteration, which could be the cause of disagreements in the future. We should be concerned about this technology in particular, as it gives everyone, including U.S. enemies, the ability to alter what we believe to be true.

These advancements in the technology industry present new ways to create genuinely fake news. Photos can be altered with ease to present made-up stories, videos can be created to present false narratives and even "people" can be drawn from scratch to persuade people into buying products. These examples present a horrible dilemma moving forward that only further feeds into the concern of fake news being spread on social media with ease.

Flippant labeling of "fake news" also normalizes a culture of accepting things as false. When we assume that everything we consume is incorrect or made-up, then what can we believe? This creates an environment of paranoia and opens us up to believing that everything is unknown or not real.

The constant flow of content is difficult to harness and verify. While we are being absolutely bombarded by information and images, we shouldn't be blamed for casually believing what we are seeing. But in regard to important topics, like hard-hitting news stories or instances of political controversy, the information should be verified before it is believed. Taking things at face value instead of with a grain of salt is at the core of our "fake news" epidemic. It is when we normalize these instances of fraud or exaggeration that we normalize the spread of false information. Casually manifesting this into everyday occurrences has the potential to be extremely harmful to our democracy.

As technology develops and the way we receive information matures, we are faced with a difficult fight. We must continue to strive toward real news and employ real people to sell us products. Genuine content remains the golden standard, and as we stray from it, we are only further reminded of its profound importance.