We live in a world with misinformation, and fake news exists and is at an all-time high. From social media to the internet as a whole, the number of people making fake accounts with false information to get views and money is rising rapidly. For example, on a website like Wikipedia, you can edit and put whatever information you want, and an unsuspecting visitor to that page might take it seriously and pass it on, causing a chain of misinformation. The problem with social media is that information on these platforms doesn’t have to be vetted, investigated, or confirmed to spread, leading to misinformation and unsubstantiated rumors to spread like wildfire online. That being said, people take advantage of being able to post whatever they like online, and it’s slowly showing that it is getting harder and harder to tell the difference. The worst part of it all is that these individuals posting these articles are getting paid to do so, and with the high volume of traffic, they get paid a lot because it is so far-fetched it jumps off the page to you making you want to click it.
Fake news articles, intentionally and explicitly, are false to manipulate people’s perceptions of reality; they have been used as a tactic to influence peoples political views and thus help promote advertising.
Nevertheless, it has also become a way to arouse and intensify social conflicts.” I have said that propaganda, misinformation, and disinformation have always been part of political warfare. Social media and other new platforms have given it a new life and reach through which the fake news phenomenon can reach everywhere” (Zardari). Untrue and deliberately misleading stories have caused increasing suspicion among Americans. In some cases, this distrust leads to rudeness, protests against fictitious events, or violence. Fake news and misleading information unravels the structure of American life and direct neighbors to their neighbors. People use fake news for two different reasons. First, they intensify social conflicts to undermine people’s trust in democratic processes and their ability to cooperate. Second, they distract people from important issues and leave them unresolved. This section describes how to use fake news to distract and intensify conflicts. Malicious people can use fake news to exacerbate US national conflicts. Fake politically motivated news came from foreign governments such as the Russian Internet Research Agency.
An American political activist persuaded social media users to vote using Facebook data illegally obtained from Cambridge Analytica. A lot of politically motivated groups such as the alt-rights and a large handful the conspiracy theorists. Despite having different agendas and goals, they spread similar fake news articles. With all that being said, fake news is hurting us, and if it keeps going, it might be hard to identify the truth anymore. “The distinction between reality and fiction in America seems like it is becoming really blurry. With its religious fanaticism, reality TV programs and fake news broadcasts being aired by the government, the States feel like they are entering the Dark Ages” (Schutz).
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari Quotes. (n.d.). BrainyQuote. Retrieved January 3, 2022, from https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/bilawal_bhutto_zardari_940406?src=t_fake_news
Dana Schutz Quotes. (n.d.). BrainyQuote. Retrieved January 3, 2022, from https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/dana_schutz_661874?src=t_fake_news