FAKE NEWS AND SOCIAL MEDIA

CAN PEOPLE TRUST AND DEPEND ON SOCIAL MEDIA AS A NEWS SOURCE?

Though Social media has become almost an inevitable part of our society now, we can't
always depend on it. The Spreading of misinformation in social media is not new. Every
day we read bunches of things online on social media, which may happen to be true,
often is not. This false or misinformation leads to fake news i.e. consisted of fabricated
stories, without any verifiable facts, sources, or quotes. Those stories are forged to
influence reader's own opinions or to deceive them. The question of fake news refers to
the point of how to think about the nature of real news. In the last few years, numbers of
fake news stories have increased via social media platforms like What's App, Facebook,
YouTube, etc., because they are shared online faster than we can ever imagine. There
have been varied uses of the term Fake news in different reporting of news. During the
second half of 2016, the term was searched tremendously by people shown in a Google
Trends Map.
Most of the time Fake news conflates three different notions: misinformation,
disinformation, and mal -information. Misinformations are false information, but when a
person conveys it, believes that it is true and shares. Disinformation is those which are
shared intentionally by a person after knowing that it is true. On the other hand,
information based on reality but imposes harm on a person, organization, or country is
termed as mal -information. After putting all of them together, we call it fake news. This
information disorder consists of different forms like satire, false connection,
misrepresentation of facts, imposter content, manipulated content, fabricated content,
and memes. There are mainly two reasons for sharing fake news on social media.
Some people spread it for political, ideological, or business interests, some also spread
it for fun. But they do it with an intention. However, again fake news is shared without
knowing it's fake by some people, but with a motive. The motive can be varied from
person to person. Few of them think sharing the information before others gives them a
sense of pride. While others think they must let people know about the importance of
news and some commit it for fun.
Are we given enough contemplation before sharing information? Is it fake or real? Are
we looking at an original piece of content? When and who created this content? Why is
the content being shared? Why should we share it?
No, usually people never give a second thought before sharing content on social media.
After receiving content like violent video clips, images, memes, etc. people forget to
verify about fake or real. It happens because at that moment the only thing that triggers
on people's minds is to let the people know about the content and its consequences.
There are very few different cases with some, who inquire " is the content fake?"
However, here the problem lies with the human mind and the fake news. Our brains
have a limited capability for processing information and for remembering, so the brain
makes judgments on what to keep. Looking into that fact, the contents which are more
familiar to people, or it has an impact on people due to some previous personal issues
are especially shared in social media. Certainly, at that moment the brain can recall the
previous effect of that content and without giving a second thought frequently passes
the judgments.
During this COVID-19 period, there are varieties of fake news on COVID-19 which are
spreading in social media and among the people very speedily. From offering unvaried
home remedies to tackle the virus to floating fake advisories asking people to avoid food
such as ice cream and chicken, sharing conspiracy theories, Indian’s phones are being
flooded with misinformation. Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi also requested the
citizens to not heed to the rumors surrounding Covid-19.
There are different ways to identify fake news and stay accurately informed. It frequently
has a clear bias, and it may strive to inspire anger or other strong feelings from the
reader. Such content may come from unfamiliar news sources so here verification is the
most important way. We have to verify the fake news by both traditional verification
methods or online verification tools process.
The traditional verification method specifically means getting on to the primary source
and verify y it. It can be sourced or emailing the person/organization and also by
reading different original documents concerned to the news. After that, we have to
cross-check the information with at least one more source and apply this method also
regarding online verification.
Likewise, there are certain tools and techniques for online verification methods. Again to
verify an image/photo, to know it's fake or real we can do a Reverse Image Search in
Google or any Search engine by using the image. It can tell if the image is used earlier.
It also shows how old the image is, and if it has been used before for other contexts.
Also, if any fact-checker has reported about the matter already, that story will appear
too.
The same process is also used to verify a video clip of fake news.
Though there are different ways to prevent fake news in social media, sometimes they
are not enough. Because there are no editors in social media to allow the spread of any
content without verifying it. So, if an option like, " Is the content real?" will appear before
sharing content may be more helpful to people. But we social media users also have to
play an important role. Instead of demanding the social media companies to take the
necessary steps, we can be the editors ourselves by learning the research process of
checking the truth behind the fake content. Personal responsibility is the first and
fundamental step to protect our society from this fake content.

Priyanka Deka
Department of Communication and Journalism
Gauhati University, Guwahati.