Fake news certainly isn’t new, but it’s the rise in the amount of fake news that’s being published and circulated on social media, that’s quite concerning.
You might ask “why is there are a huge amount of fake news stories circulating?” Well you can thank Big Tech companies (Facebook, Google, Twitter etc.), who play a large role in the dissemination of these news stories.
To combat this, CEO and founder of Facebook, one of the main Big Tech companies, Mark Zuckerberg said that he’s added a few features that would help stop the spread of fake news stories. One of those features, allows users to flag false content.
Instagram, who is owned by Facebook, also has the same issue as its parent company, in terms of the spread of fake news and has implemented a flagging feature as well.
When you flag a post for fake news or misinformation Facebook sends those to fact checking organizations, (PolitiFact, AP and Factcheck.org) and if they find that the post is false, they will take down it down. The same thing happens on Instagram, but instead of being taken down, they will warn you that it’s fake and it will not be shown on the Explore or hashtag page.
Personally, I find fake news, in general, to be an issue. It’s not just the stories being spread on social media. A lot of people actually fall for these stories because they can be quite convincing. To avoid being duped, here are some things to keep in mind when reading an article:
- Look at source: Who published the story? Is it a credible source?
- Read the whole article, not just the headline
- Question what you’re reading: Don’t take what you read at face value. Be skeptical!
- Put your biases aside: Keep an open mind when reading a news story.
- When in doubt, go to professional fact-checking websites, like Snopes, NewsBusters, Media Matters, FactCheck.org etc.
Angelina's Angle 