THE FAKE NEWS
Whilst social media is changing the way we
act on a personal level, it’s also affecting the
way we think, with “fake news” the buzzword
of the past five years. True news is now under
the lens, but with anyone able to disseminate
fake information to millions of followers online,
it’s seemingly impossible to overcome the
constitutional challenges that are unfolding.
Echo chambers can breed extremism, as we see
on Twitter every day from both sides of political
and religious groups, and finding a solution to
such problems is not as easy as you’d think.
Many are convinced that Trump’s 2016 election
win was influenced by fake news campaigns
and Russian interference, with millions spent on
Facebook Ads; and an investigation on Brexit in
the UK paints a similar picture.
Companies like Apple are attempting to
empower news organizations to transform their
business models (like with the introduction of
Apple News+) and reduce their reliance on click-
baited content which, in itself, forms part of the
fake news agenda. Consumers naturally rush
to articles with a controversial headline to
pass on “shareable” messages to friends, even
if they’re inaccurate or only tell part of a story.
Social networking sites such as Facebook have
promised to play their part by disrupting fake
news by building new products to curb the
spread of false information and help people
make more informed decisions when they
encounter fake news stories on their timelines.
Earlier in the year, Mark Zuckerberg confirmed
to the media that Facebook was to hire
journalists to fight against fake news stories,