4 minute read
Feature
from Volume 48 Issue 5
BY AYSHE ALI
Assistant to the Advisor
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Advancements in technology have made it easier than ever to know what is going on in the world. People have stepped away from traditional news sources and have started relying on social media to receive their news. Instead of reading through a newspaper or watching the local nightly newscast, you have the ability to quickly learn about what’s happening in the world around you from scrolling through social media platforms like Twitter or TikTok. According to a Pew Research Service study from January, more than 86 percent of adults said they get their news from a smartphone. While this sounds convenient and ideal, many people don’t realize that the information they are consuming may be incorrect.
A major factor in what causes misinformation in the media is a reliance on shock value. Tabloids and news outlets race to release a news story first. No matter the outcome, each company’s goal is to get the most traffic on their sites. Media outlets tend to throw out buzzwords and clickbait headlines to accomplish this goal and to grab the attention of different audiences and readers.
“The platforms profit from it because
the more outrageous the content, the more people interact with it – this type of ‘engagement’ is what the platforms are looking for; people reacting to things. It doesn’t matter if it’s true or false as long as they engage,” telecommunications analyst of Recon Analytics Roger Entner said.
It is very easy for someone to read an article or scroll through social media content and blindly believe what they see. We have long been inclined to think that news is trustworthy, but it has become increasingly important for people to get into the habit of fact-checking the media they are consuming. Just because something is published doesn’t mean that it can’t be riddled with false information. The current conflict between Russia and Ukraine has proven just how dangerous and easy to believe misleading information can be.
Most teenagers and adults are familiar by now with TikTok. This video-sharing app has ended up in the middle of a broader discussion about misinformation, specifically with the conflict happening between Ukraine and Russia. TikTok works as an algorithm, letting the user view the content that interests them the most. Recently, however, many users’ “For You” pages have been X flooded with content relating to Russia’s decision to invade their neighbor. Staying informed about current issues is important, however a recent study done by Safeguard, a company that monitors the trustworthiness of news outlets, proved just how much false information is floating around on the app. “Toward the end of the 45–minute experiment, analysts’ feeds were almost exclusively populated with both accurate and false content related to the war in Ukraine – with no distinction made between disinformation and reliable sources,” the research team at Safeguard found.
This misinformation is not only misleading, but it can also contribute to unnecessary panic. People from both sides of the war have been posting videos and images with the sole purpose of striking fear in each other. What many people
don’t realize is that there isn’t a shortage of examples proving just how much false information is out there relating to the war between Russia and Ukraine. For example, a viral video that surfaced on Facebook of a Ukrainian aircraft shooting a Russian aircraft down is actually from a video game, according to USA Today writer Kate Petersen. People are seemingly willing to post whatever it takes to get a reaction from others. “Without actual pictures from the conflict, people turn to online repositories for imagery for memes and posts. They find old images, misinterpret them In a 2018 study done by MIT Sloan proas being from the current war, and in clude them with their posts to try to bol fessors Sinan Aral and Deb Roy and So- ster their arguments,” said Dr. Vikram Mitroush Vosoughi of the MIT Media Lab, tal, an associate professor at the United States Military Academy in the Departthey found that news containing false ment of Systems Engineering. information is 70 percent more likely In a 2018 study done by MIT Sloan professors Sinan Aral and Deb Roy and to be retweeted than stories contain- Soroush Vosoughi of the MIT Media Lab, ing true facts. they found that news containing false information is 70 percent more likely to be retweeted than stories containing true facts. It is increasingly more difficult to figure out if something you are reading is true or not. Instead of reading newspapers or watching the local news, people are starting to solely rely on social media to get their information. The issue to remain consistently aware of is that we have to be more devoted to fact checking our news sources, particularly when they come from social media. “Social media offers us the illusion of news literacy, but what it really delivers is a fog of feel-good-half-truths, a half-shuttered window on the world,” according to Penn State University professor in ethics Dr. Patrick L. Plaisance.
