Fake News: How We Should Combat The Spread of Misinformation

Have you ever scrolled past an article and liked it or even shared it? Did you ever realize later on that it was fake news? According to a ConsumerLab report, more than 50 percent of consumers in the United States and the United Kingdom have read articles only to realize later on it was fake. 

The Cambridge Dictionary, describes fake news as, “false stories that appear to be news, spread on the interest or using other media, usually created to influence political views or as a joke.” This definition can be problematic as it can attack satirical news, and it doesn’t fully disclose many of the notions surrounding this term.

Fake news is more about the spread of misinformation whether it is inaccurate or totally made up, and social media makes it easier than ever to circulate these type of posts. 

But what role does social media companies like Facebook and Twitter have when it comes to minimizing the spread of misinformation? Should they even have a say?  

When the Notre Dame Cathedral burned, a grainy video posted on Facebook spread rapidly of -- what seemed to be -- a man dressed in Muslim garb in the church. Fact-checkers quickly pointed out that the video was fake, and the Sri Lanka government shutdown Facebook for a few days to stop the spread of fake news. 

But should we allow these companies to be our gatekeepers and decide what news pops up on our feed? Some criticize social media companies to do more, but there seems to be a fine line. There’s no doubt they have combatted this issue already including the implementation of algorithms which have quite an impact on what we see when scrolling on our phones or computers. 

Each platform has some kind of fake news infiltrating people’s feeds. Social media most certainly contributes to the rise and spread.  

So how can we combat this? There are endless possibilities. Some teachers are already teaching their students how to fight and point out fake news. There should be some kind of education for everyone. Truthfully, consumers should have more responsibility than social media companies by checking where the headline they read on their feed is actually coming from before they like and share it. This shouldn’t be alarming and concerning for readers, but something to keep in mind if they read that someone was paid $3,500 to protest Donald Trump posted by abcnews.com.co (a fake news website). 

As journalists, we need to work together to fact check information before posting and sharing. Where is this video coming from? Is it from a reliable source? Has it been doctored? Being more careful about what we share and having newsrooms implement newer policies can help move toward lessening the spread of misinformation.