False Information within Social Media

Claudia Bauman

Clbauman2@gmail.com 

 

 

Now a days many consumers do not turn to the news to stay up-to-date on current events but rather turn to social media. While in one hand this is a fantastic platform to receive quick bites of information, they often don’t uphold the standards that most journalists hold true. This also goes for the advertisements used in these outlets.

The Institute for Advertising Ethics does a fantastic job of breaking down nine principles that should be upheld regardless of that platform. Though these principles are closely followed in many instances it is social media users that tend to not hold themselves as accountable as others.

The first principle could arguably be the most important as it talks about only sharing the truth above all else. With the internet many users feel they can share anything they please since they can post things and still be anonymous. This is dangerous as many consumers don’t take the time to fact check the information, they are being feed. Stanford University took a look at how fake news can spread like a virus through various social media platforms and why this is. They even compared bots to internet trolls and how they influence the public to be swayed a certain way. Scientific American also agrees that bots are heavily influencing the kind of information we are consuming. Now humans aren’t the only culprit but A.I. are also aiding in the sharing of false news.

Picture source: Scientific American Filippo Menczer

 

Principle four is one that we have seen a lot of backlashes for within social media. Within this principle they talk about how any form of free products, sponsorships and payments must be discussed so the audience is well informed. Without this principle we see the audience, which is often very young, be influenced into buying products or participating in something when in fact that person they are being influenced by isn’t coming from an unbiased opinion. There luckily has been a lot of backlash over with the rise in social media and more are being held to this standard.

Patch took a closer look at how social media has breed a platform of sharing misinformation like this and the harm this is causing. Their piece heavily looks at Facebook and how it has disrupted how journalism use to be viewed and can be read here. It is fascinating how they discuss how social media has turned reporting the news into a race of who can get the story out there faster. Facts should come first regardless of their speed.

Picture source: MIT Management

 

 Regardless of the platform being used and whether you call yourself a journalist or not it is our responsibility to not spread misinformation. Without real facts being spread this can quickly lead to chaos and mistrust of one another. We must all keep ourselves accountable and hold up these ethical standards that have been put in place for this exact reason.