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Fake News: Who is to Blame?

Fake News: Who is to Blame?

Technology has sparked the rapid spread of fake news, but behind the technology we have people and media to blame for the real issue.

By Meaghan Parker

Current undergraduate student at San Diego State University.

Dec. 10, 2018

Technology ultimately started the rapid spread of fake news, but the people behind the screens are truly causing the issue. There are important factors to think about before you share the next story you see on Facebook.

Say two friends are out to lunch when one comes across a news story while searching for an old post on Facebook. They are sure the post is true because it is entirely too amusing not to be. Meanwhile, the friend across the table is questioning the validity of the story for the same reason, it is entirely too amusing.

Of course we can’t research and fact check every story we come across, so the question appears, should the article be shared or is it false information? If my friend is willing to share it I should believe it too because they wouldn’t put their reputation on the line for something that might not be real. Well this isn’t the case. Experts have delved into what is going on behind the scenes and what we should do to stop ourselves, as well as the media, from sharing fake news.

Eli Pariser gave a TED talk in February of 2011 entitled “Beware Online ‘Filter Bubbles,’” and during his speech he discusses how both the media and individuals are to blame for the problem we have with fake news. Filter bubbles are filtered search results that media platforms use to filter out the information they think individuals want to see. This sounds great, but really all it does is lead to individuals sharing false news because they are only seeing what the algorithm thinks they want to see. This often filters out the truth for certain topics, often giving them a false sense of what is true.

Filtering out results based on what people like to look at, blinds part of their perception to reality. They aren’t seeing all the information that is out there. Individuals may be happy with what they see, but the truth isn’t always going to make you happy, while it’s still the truth. People have to see things that make them unhappy in order for them to correctly judge what is realistic and what is fake. Media is filtered and then individuals share it and the cycle continues as both forces work together to build an empire of fake news on the internet.

Greta Van Susteren, a writer for The Los Angeles Times, wrote an article, entitled “Who’s to blame for fake news?” about how we can’t simply blame media sites, such as Twitter and Facebook, for the spread of misinformation. Yes these sites are the home of a good amount of fake news stories, but it is the individual users who cause them to be so widely spread. Van Susteren talks about how it is so easy to spread fake news in the United States, but in other countries even writing journalist as your profession can cause serious issues. This just shows that the United States is really suffering from the fake news epidemic because anyone can be a journalist here when in other countries it’s nearly impossible to be one, much less write a fake news story.

Not only is fake news very widely spread, individuals often reject true stories because they believe that they’re fake, based on their personal beliefs. According to Gordon Pennycook from the University of Regina, Tyrone Cannon of Yale University, and David G. Rand of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, people are likely to reject a story if it goes against what they already believe. People don’t want to have to think about a different perspective on the topic, after being exposed to a prior story or fact they agree with, they most likely won’t be willing to change their views on the topic. People need to realize that in order to be educated correctly on certain topics, you have to hear and consider all information, even if it makes you unhappy.

This all connects back to the spread of fake news due to the fact that because of the decreased likelihood to change beliefs after something they agree with has already been supported with evidence, true or not, people share fake news stories on media platforms. The media puts the stories out there and individuals help them spread to other viewers, and the cycle continues constantly. This is what we are dealing with in today’s technology based society and there has to be actions taken if it is going to stop.

There are plenty of people who don’t think that spreading fake news is a problem, that’s why they do it. Online sites, such as The Odyssey, who have published articles on how to create your own fake news, only make matters worse. It walks readers through a step by step process for creating fake news. This is a huge issue because individuals can not only share false information on social media, they can create their own. Sites like The Odyssey confirm people’s beliefs that fake news isn’t a problem and allow them to continue with poor media habits rather than seeing that there needs to be a change.

Some people choose to fact check what they read before they share or they don’t share something if it is obvious to them that the story is bogus. These people don’t see fake news as a problem because they are taking action themselves. We all need to take a moment and pause to question ourselves before we share an article that we’re questioning the validity of. If an article pops up that opposes your view, take a minute to read through it and then ask yourself if that side of the story is more likely to be true than what you may currently believe.

Facebook has recently decided to crack down on fake news, as discussed in an article written by a colleague that is also a writer for The New York Times as well as a philosophy professor at York University in Toronto, Regina Rini. Starting in December 2016 Facebook started looking at how well what people post aligns with what fact checkers find. They then give each person a score, but you cannot find out your own score or anyone else’s because Facebook merely uses it to track news sharing habits and they keep that information to themselves. Users are also confronted with a popup message when they try to share a story that has been proven false. It doesn’t prevent people from posting false news, but rather explains the issues with the article or story in an attempt to give the user a chance to change their mind about posting it. Facebook is attempting to make a change in the way media and individuals spread fake news, but in order for a real change to happen, more people have to take action.

Fake news is a big problem in today’s society thanks to both the media and individuals. The media puts out false information and even filters what people see, individuals then share it and we are sucked into an endless cycle of production and spread of fake news. This problem will never go away entirely, but there are things we can do to slow the constant, rapid spread of fake news. We each have to take responsibilities for our own actions, if nothing is done the problem will only get worse from here.

Meaghan Parker (@meaghanparkerr) is currently an undergraduate student at San Diego State University.