Fact check before you retweet

Lily Biros

lb526018@ohio.edu

The term "fake news" has been used so much in today's social media, society and government that it is often hard to determine what news organizations are actually reliable. This is due to the increased amount of misinformation, disinformation and propaganda. The difference between the two lies in if the person generating the content meant to be malicious or not, while propaganda is meant to sway public opinion. Differentiating between the three modes of information can be extremely tricky due to how easily it is to distribute content. Certain organizations can subtly spread misinformation by appearing trustworthy. They can do this by not including quotes from those are directly affected, taking facts out of context, and by making it seem that everyone believes the same thing. These dangerous tactics, according to the Markkula Center are ways that news can be construed. 

Picture: BBC News

This saturation of information has been extremely prevalent due the rise in COVID, the 2020 presidential election, and any worldwide issues. Twitter in particular has been the culprit for spreading misinformation, and that's partly due to user error. According to the Atlantic, "fake news prospers, the authors write, 'because humans, not robots, are more likely to spread it." The people are the ones who are spreading the fake news because there is so much of it. At first glance, it is often hard to distinguish what is real or not, and most people aren't willing to investigate the facts before they retweet. 

Simply liking and retweeting content without knowing if it is correct or not can have disastrous consequences to the people it impacts. Examples of this include the bombing at the Boston Marathon,  the tragedy at Sandy Hook, and certain fraudulent murder charges.  All of these instances severely impacted the victims while circulating unnecessary panic, confusion and fear. According to the Columbia Journalism Review, the victims of these encounters were often too afraid to speak up due to the fear that they would be publicly attacked on social media. These accusations severely changed these people's lives while the people on social media who spread the news were able to live freely. You are not just retweeting and liking content, you are circulating information that impacts real-life people.

Because of this, everyone needs to be cautious and aware of what they are consuming on social media because everything impacts everyone. News organizations can appear trustworthy, but it is better to double check before you share because you can never really know by just browsing.