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https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/26/billionaire-la-times-owner-calls-social-media-the-cancer-of-our-time.html

For once, I agree with a billionaire.  ::)

I don't agree with him anyways

His concern about spread of fake news is a serious problem.

Many netizens are being misinformed and quick in judging if there's an article that came out from a recent incident since its becoming a race of how quick they are in bringing news, so sometimes they lack of credible sources which results to fake news.

yeah, this concern is one that I feel will not be able to be solved for as long as social media is around.
people these days get access to news be it fake or real way too fast for anyone to be able to react.

If ever Soon-Shiong will find a way to eradicate it then he can reach out those social media platforms to address his concern.

I understand his rant about fake news.

We live in an era that requires a massive need for disillusionment, I would have to agree with him. People have been used to taking information in very small snippets due to the almost exclusively visual nature of social media.

I also think AI will be able to provide a solution to this problem by deciphering what's real from what's not through fact-checking and examining the entire context of every situation. It could rate information. Who owns the AI that would be responsible for this could potentially make this controversial though.

I agree with this. As for I have experienced and observed, social media can be thought as a cancer. First is that it affects us negatively behaviorally as it sometimes losses our elself confidence or self esteem that will be turned into another problem. Another is that social media is now a source of many fake news. This is somehow toxic tp be seen as people are easily catch by this. Thus, it is indeed that social media nowadays can be considered to be as a cancer.

Many technological billionaires do, in fact, prevent their children to spend too much time in SN. Why? Because they clearly realize the harm that social networks do to you.

Fake news is the bane of Social Media, because it causes a lot of problems and it can be used to cause so much hate and violence. They can incite people to do the most horrible things. There should be a way to filter fake news from social media.

While I agree Social Media can be toxic, I disagree that the blame should all be put on the consumers. If any, those who work in the news and entertainment news media have a bigger role to play in spreading fake news across the internet. If every news outlet only practices responsible journalism, then perhaps fake news will be eliminated or, at the very least, contained.

agree with this, but certain news started out from social media before being circulated in an official article and this usually takes less than a day for that article to be released due to the fear of not being the one to have this article.

so yeah, news companies should take more time to verify the source before publishing an article about it though it's not likely to happen anytime soon or even ever.

I disagree with you, because social media is a place and it can be said that the world where we can see and even talk with friends and relatives, social media can tighten the relationship that starts to drift apart due to distance and time zone,

Consider for a second that the majority of the human population are sheep - religion proves this.

They will believe anything they read.

The curious will eventually rise and overtake the gullible. 

Or we could forget the "A" and just use the "I". Like people did for thousands of years - with massive blunders along the way of course - but still survived. If someone insists on being uninformed and ignorant there is no AI that could possibly help them. There is somewhat of a problem that these days such ignorant dolts have a better chance to procreate than e.g. 200 years ago but in the long run it will all sort itself out.

I don't agree with that tho...but I think everyone has his opinion about social media

Social media can be good and bad. Politics-wise, there are politicians and / or governments who use social media to spread fake news and propaganda to its people. This is already happening in countries like the Philippines. https://www.c[Suspicious link removed]m/2018/01/17/facebook-and-fake-news-controversy-in-philippines-around-rappler.html
That said, social media also connects people to do charity work, to revolt, to do business.
Like any other thing in life, it would all depend on how you would use it.
I have already seen some people's comments where they say to prefer to live under a dictatorship and have their freedom limited if that means they would have a "peaceful" life. I think people who say things like this just need a messiah-like person to follow and revere because they do not know how to live their life on their own.

Actually they have sometime a social media is cancer just like they always giving some fake news even do it was not true. So some of us are anger about that happen, But sometime also it was a big help for us a social media because we don't know yet on what happen in outside.

I think it falls a little bit of in a grey area here. Social media the way it started had SO MUCH potential, but then it had to be made addictive (and guess whose decision that was, hint, not exactly the user's). And on top of that add how our lazy nature made it sooo easy for fake news to spread and exacerbated the problem in ways that we just didn't expect.

Now to answer with my opinion here, I do think that social media has great potential, thing is that as everyone is given "a voice", some people just haven't earned it. Just see how easy it is to spread fake stuff around. I wish there was a way for people to learn how to not fall prey to these tactics and then Social Media would be a different place, but alas no one is taught how to properly "go online".

So yeah, while it is kind of cancer, it is a preventable one.

We cannot eliminate the democracy that social media provides. It would be a bigger scandal if social media was completely wiped out, right? Why not just increase security? AI is progressing now, right? I’ve read it can help filter out fake news.
https://www.decentpropaganda.com/ai-is-bad-news-for-fake-news/
What do you think?

Yes, I agree with this. Every people can speak for what they want, but they don't think that it's not good to share that something we don't know and not clear so it will make misperception to other people and it's already happening in the social media. Yes, it is like cancer that we need to solve and every people need to be wise when they read something on the other news. But it is difficult to do as we know that every social media gives a free place for their member to update their status with easy. And it's ourselves the duty to prevent for the bad news that comes to us.

this.
making full use of current technology ..

you just have to know what to do and to do it right.

I agree, in addition to that, netizens reacts quickly like a lightning, they don't even know what's the story behind but they quickly judge.  I hope that we may say comments after we knew the truth.

agreed but don't think it will happen anytime soon. the internet has spread too much thus netizens will react quickly and this is the problem.  ???

I agree on his concern because of social media there are a lot of misunderstanding in our community spreading of fake new is a serious problem i dont think theres a solution in this problem as long people has a freedom on posting what they want even its not right and its full of lie we cant do nothing. Social media now a days use always in Good and mostly on bad matter.

Want to know the best way to deal with fake news?

Fact check it!

It's really that easy... when you hear something that sounds incredible and want to share it, wait... google it first... read an article from a reputable news source and see if it agrees with the recent news you saw on Facebook or wherever

It's super simple... if you want some practice, watch Alex Jones and google every sentence out of his mouth... if you can't catch Alex Jones in a lie every 60 seconds, you are doing it wrong

Of course, its cancer, a lot of cancerous people are using it after all. Social media was supposed to be a medium of communication and spreading of information through the use of the internet, but because of the greed of human beings, they started using social media for other uses. An example would be wanting fame by spreading fake news, or even using hacking or phishing sites and masking it as some kind of explosive news can be an example.

Fake news isn’t the only problem. What about the current data breach of FB?
https://www.wired.com/story/facebook-security-breach-50-million-accounts/
that’s alarming, right? But tech is tech. For sure AI algorithms can be developed to prevent both fake news and data breaches.

agree with this.
but for the vast majority, upon seeing any news, their first reaction is to share it without fact checking first.
which ultimately results in even more spreading of the fake news until some soul decide to fact check which by then, it would have spread to thousands of people.

People that are addicted in social media are cancers. Persons that always post their everyday life and no one cares.

I agree with you, and we need to be wise when we use social media because we don't have any border and every people can watch, read about our status. Maybe many people don't like what we write, and this is why that we need to selective and it is good to use the filter to prevent the bad things that will appear to us.

yupp agreed.
that's why we always have to be cautious about what we post online.
but best case scenario if for us here to take whatever news that's being posted onto social media with a pinch of salt.

Social media is becoming more popular nowadays as everyone wants to share their views on social media.  Some people want to share their personal life events on social media. It has connected people
Social media is not cancer if you use it in effective way
but sometimes people use it in negative way and try to fraud others which is not good.
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mixed thoughts about this one!

It depends on how you use it i only use it to communicate to my friends and family but using as to share your everyday life or everything you do i dont like it and it is becoming cancer now due to its advertising.

With all benefits SN bring, there is one alarming tendency - netizens nowadays react first and research later, if ever.
Expressing your opinion is the top priority, no matter if a person knows what is actually happening. No place for the educated opinion on the modern SN, I`m afraid.
Same old story - people can distort any good intention and invention and make it cancerous. Honestly, I can`t think of a way to stop fake news at this point.
One could possible cope with it by checking several sources and comparing the info, but honestly who has time to do it?

One is miliuner Patrick Soon-Shiong. In her interview with CNBC, Soon-Shiong criticize how people find the news via social media and also the spread of false news on social media. He also called medsos supposing cancer at this time '

Yes it's cancer to the government MEDIA OUTLETS   because they are losing their grip on mind control..

Social media as told the world what really is going on ;D..

You don't mean to say it's gotten worse in today's society do you?..

They used to stick a spike up your butt hole 17th century and put you on a tower..NOW what do you think some of the excuses was to ram a spike up your butt hole was? .

So now imagine if back then we had SOCIAL MEDIA    well BOB got spiked for saying GOD because he hurt his finger .. ::)

So NOW imagine life now without SOCIAL MEDIA  what tricks will the POLITICIANS play and what will they be robbing?..

Now with social media what will happen if the masses in your country find out a POLITICIAN is fiddling and put it on social media  SO is it a cancer or a blessing?..

The good is far better than the bad ..We now know where are taxes get spent  and much more what greedy shady politicians get up to..

While it is totally true and reasonable, this is dealing with the problem, not with its cause.
How to fix the fake news situation? One solution comes to my mind: introduce AI censorship. AI is unbiased, it`ll conduct necessary fact checking and produce 'correct' piece of news.

It is though, to be honest i quite feel that it's not just cancer but a toxic , a toxicity that bringing all the aspects of toxic and implant on our brains you know what i'm saying, let's face the reality, the sad reality that social media can kill too though. I wish we can turn back time to those moments or era that letters exist.

It's quite sad cause instead of social media is helping or a way of sharing the journey , now it doesn't , it kill.

Darn we could go into business selling spikes on eBay!

No, I think social media are a remedy to a disease, the disease of compartmentalized, uneducated thinking. Just as reading or studying is considered beneficial to human understanding, communicating with other people via social media is similarly beneficial. Of course, studying and learning can be put to deleterious uses, but I believe that the predominance of people who intend to do good, creative things with their learning outbalances those who intend to do evil, destructive things

I think it's the best disease ever, if it's that. It's become a way to keep in touch with friends and families that didn't exist before. While some may become so immersed in online activities that limit their real world experiences, I think humans remain incredibly social and it's just another way to enjoy communication.

Totally agree on the idea of toxic instead of cancer. Cyberbullying, in all of its forms, is certainly on the rise in 2018 and will most likely retain the same trend in 2019.
Bullying is more evident for people of younger generations, and while it can be to a certain degree be controlled while they`re at school or university, it becomes extremely hard to do something about bullying on the web. People feel that computer screen makes them invincible so they go all out on attacking others. It is the matter of lack of education and socio-cultural concepts, the toxicity problem should be addressed on the stage long before web - in schools and during upbringing.

Fake news has becoming rampant nowadays especially in social media. I think that it is because it is easy to alter storues and evwn make stories in social media simply because first, there is no law regulizing the spread of fake news. People are not afraid and are not careful when it comes to this issue because there are no technical consequences for this. Second, people, due to our lon exposure in social media, we are unconsciously and consciously believing what is fake. We tend to absorb those and eventually making a false judgement and irrelevant decisions --- and that is how social media are becoming cancerous.

I feel that yes, bullying is one problem, but the other problem is that kids (well, lets be honest, not only kids) generate their self-worth relying on social media and their followers often leading to depression when their fellow classmates and friends have far more followers and likes on social media platforms.

What is even worse is that now when having a YouTube channel and being sort of a YouTube celebrity is also popular among kids and often 14-15 year olds have quite a big fanbase, they are not quite there to ponder on what they are really saying. Often topics like "shcool sucks, why do we even need it" or "I hate my teacher" are being discussed and other kids who have created role models out of personals take up the same attitude...

What I want to say here is that all of this both bullying and sort of putting yourself out there should maybe be more up for discussion and maybe even handled and discussed at an early age what consequences all of these things might have. Maybe if kids grow up with understanding what harm all of this might cause they will be more cautious with what they are doing and saying.

I don't agree with that  i think its due to social media we are now in a ways attached and know everything, everyone has his opinion but without social media every news was controlled by news czar.

Well the reality it is, if i will be a billionaire man, i should too keep my children away from doing social media, one of the factor that people now days, mostly the teens, suffering on a concept that they feel suffocating by the fact that the longer they hold on the toxic they become.

Yes it is like a diary or a journal book that you can posted in and say what on your mind, but now it becoming more and more toxic though.

This is just hilarious,it can be a cancer for some but it has changed lives especially in third world countries so it isn't entirely bad.

Social media is just a waste of an great potential.

The truth is we can easily check the authenticity of a fake news, it is just we just too lazy that make it simply broadcasted. We need to have a critical thinking to solve the problem, we need to look at the bigger picture instead of just clicking/sharing around an unreliable news to prevent continuing the deceive chain.

Mr. Patrick Soon-Shiong underlines the fake news on social media. The fake news won't be good anywhere in the world.

I somewhat agree, yes, we cannot imagine our lives without social media anymore. This is where we get our everyday news, talk to family and friends etc... but then again, could it be replaced? I think yes, I don't know with what yet, but as everything is being developed so fast I think soon we will have a totally different understanding of social media than we do at this very moment. There's been so much talk about how Facebook is dying etc... that probably means that people are craving for new solutions and where there is demand there will be a solution.

 don't think that social media is cancer, that depends or how you use the social media. If you use to promote your business, meet new people and products, expand your number of friends and who knows maybe meet the love of your life you can make social media a great tool. But if you only use it for stalking and watch trash Videos you are going to waste a lot of time.

Social media is cancer but if we just use it correctly it will be not.

Social media is useful in different ways but it depends on how will you use it. Control and Discipline is the Key
If you use it for a good purpose its okay but if you use it in bad or use it for nothing and if you got addicted of using social media then it/you will become toxic.

They create social media to connect but we don't realize that we are disconnected with people around us.  
Lets not get lost in the world of social media because sometimes we don't appreciate and forgot the world that is right in front of us.

I don't use social media because I don't really see the point. If you want to talk to your friend, you can call them or text them. Even better, meet up with your friends in person and talk to each other face to face while you hang out. Where does social media come into any of that? I dunno. I don't care what everyone else does. I guess that's why I don't use social media.

If you think social media is cancer then what are you doing on this forum? Social media isn't cancer. People are the problem. Social media sure can be toxic but I think it's not just social media but the internet as a whole and how we use it. The issue with the internet is -- and especially social media - is people tend to be who they're not and project a lifestyle that is far from the truth. On this forum everyone hides behind a username and avatar and you have a screen to protect you from whatever you say. On social media like Facebook and Instagram people mostly just post the best aspects about their life. They post pictures or updates of their vacations abroad, or new clothes and flashy purchases, or when they're eating out at a fancy restaurant and generally having a good time. They're not going to post a selfie of them crying themselves to sleep at night or take a picture of the bill they've just received that they can't afford to pay and this skews people's realities and that leads to animosity and fomo. When someone see's someone else posting pictures living seemingly lavish lifestyles or just having something they don't have then people get upset and envious because they want that too, but it's usually not how they're actually living in reality. I think that's why social media can be very toxic and damaging to a lot of people's mental health but it's not really the cause but who we are as people and how how we use social media.

I think the anonymity the internet provides you is like a superpower in itself. It's like what happens when you give people guns. Cowards love them because it levels the playing-field. A coward would never stand up to a bully or someone that's twice the size of them in real life but they will if they've got a gun in their pocket because that makes them ten feet tall and as brave as a lion. If anything goes wrong then the gun is coming out. Same thing happens with the internet as the internet is their virtual gun. Some scrawny anemic teenager in his mom's basement can troll and get aggressive with whoever he wants because he has the protection of a screen and nobody is going to punch him in the face for being a twat so he says whatever he wants without consequence. He's living his life like the way he wished he could in reality just as people do on social media.

Social Media is a perfect gateway to push fake news down the throat of all readers. It indeed is cancerous.
With the rise of AI and Bots. Fake news will be evermore a greater problem that has the potential to ignite fear, uncertainty and doubt. It can fool even the educated.

So... if WW3 happens... social media may play a part in causing it.

these american billionaires are increasingly jokes,

the federal reserves, breeds them prints a billion usd, and then tells them to say something they want to keep everyone enslaved and fixed on them.

Life quality has vastly eroded due to social media so i'd say the word choice is perfect.

    I cannot say that I am depensive on social media itself, i can say there are advantages and disadvantages in social media it is depend on a person recieve the news how to handle for it, the one sending the news must have their responsibility on the news exposed.Like if you send false news to the public hoping that giving him/her a big sanction accordingly. but also socia media can help so many good things.

Yes It's right, Social media is cancer for a politician who walks on the wrong way and informer for the public. Today social media is a big weapon to say your opinion in public.

His surely understands the problem. I also do and I am also willing to help him in my little own ways.

Social media is really a cancer when it comes to spreading fake informations.

Thro, social media everyone can become a reporter a weather forecaster a scientist, analyst and whatsoever. Without a proper degree or a professional license.

Would you want to have your child getting feed with bullshit information cause I don't

News have been fake since before social media.
Social media allows you to actively participate in picking your sources, so if you're smart, you'll get better quality than traditional media.
The bigger problem is social media addictions for the common folk, an even higher motivation to keep up with the joneses, jealousy, fake bragging and all that destructive garbage.
And since I don't care about news all that much I don't use social media (except linkedin).
No-one is forcing you to use it...

As with any tool, its importance and merits are due to the users rather than the tool itself.

Has it really? It's like having a disease that you have purposely infected yourself with but we also have the cure for. Just turn off your computer if it negatively effects you so much. Technology should enhance your life, but if it doesn't them you should just stop using it.

That is the fact social media if misused is even worst then a cancer, bad social media can destroy a Nation and crime on a high rate, fake new and documentary every where preaching lies and deceit.

But who's fault is it when the masses believe lies and deceit?

If you say UFO has stolen money and everyone chooses to believe that instead of the more plausible possibility that the people spreading the rumour actually stole the money?

Should government regulate these rumours to make sure everything said is 100% true? That's what some regimes have tried in the past and failed miserably.

Unfortunately the lies and deceit are a consequence of free speech.

My main gripe with social media is that they're privately owned and speech in there is not really free. People are guided to conclude certain things.

Very famous news aggregators have thousands of users who truly believe they know everything and must give an opinion on everything. You see people sharing intimate details of their lives, sometimes embarrassing stuff, with complete strangers. All this within a privately owned platform that they don't even know who's behind it.

Why do the masses do it? They simply do it. Can't really blame social media IMO. People badly need tech education before accessing the internet. I don't think most people using social networks have any idea what's really happening behind the scenes when they use it.

Well, i know that one and to be exact media networks has been using the social platform as well. That addiction you were talking about has also been one of the reason why there are a lot of shit news.

If before you can only get fake news being shown publicly now anyone can do that and can also hide from those fake accounts.

Well, in my case I still am using it since it is helpful for my part to communicate with my friends

True words

It brings people that are far that you know little about close to you but makes people that are close to you and very important far from you, it is so bad that you will see a family that should be discussing together after the days activities with their different gadget's on social media, even communicating to each other on social media when they are actually under the same roof.

and it even spread like a cancer so much so that if the persons that should be discussing with you are with their phones on social media you will most likely start pressing your own phone or just leave the scene because you cannot just talk to yourself.   

Cancers can be control by medicine.the medicines can be natural or artificial.if social media is a cancer it also can be control using some medicine but the medicines is not physical as we think.
We should know manage every thing.social media is not bad.it can be use to make our life better.if someone addicted to social media it also can be make our life as hell.so we should know manage everything using our brain.

I actually miss my former life where social media wasn't a thing. For a good majority of my life I never even knew Facebook (or other SNs) existed (and I much prefer it that way).

It's sort of one of those things where it grew to fast, that even if you don't want to use it (because a majority of the modern world uses it), it's impossible to avoid 100%.

Everything can be positive and can be negative depending on the type of person who uses it. If someone know bounds of using social media then he can use it wisely and not be categorized as a disease, and otherwise for someone who uses social media unwise then he has been poisoned and become a disease.

The irony of social media is that it makes people antisocial, this applies those who misuse it.
It facilitates communication and connects people on a global scale that was previously unimaginable. False news is not an inherent with social media, it started witg media itself.

Then there's the threats of misuse of our personal information, likes and dislikes, social media has access to out tastes, characters and behaviours.

If you're a business owner or want to start a business, then social media can be a prayer sent:

-It’s free to use (even if it can be time-consuming)
-It helps shape the personality of a brand
-It’s the future (and the present)
-You can participate in two-way conversations
-Brand advocacy grows increasingly powerful
-It’s the softest conversion point you have
-You can get a search ranking and SEO boost
-It will become a stable source of traffic (if you get it right)

With a little bit of creativity and some luck, Social media can be used to your advantage and to earn profit

For a business owner, social media is a heaven for them. The targeted ads provided by the social media company is work like a charm for business purposes. The problem is as a regular society they are blinded by social media, as a society perspective we could say that millenials are degraded in term of social awareness.

SM is a great way to reconnect with lost friends and family that you would otherwise not be able to find.
I have used SM to reconnect with people from all over the world.  
Cancer is literally one of the most god awful things in existence so I’m not sure how someone can even consider something disgusting and deadly like cancer to SM.

Source: sister went through chemotherapeutic treatment and is now ridden!
F*CK CANCER!

Duh! As if mainstream media aren't cancer too. Being on television newspaper or radio media doesn't meant you weren't bias and are manipulating things. In places where democracy is limited like Saudi Arabia, social media is a big help. Risky of being caught though.

The social media is open for everyone but what you take from it is what matters, social media have always been against bitcoin and cryptocurrency such as Facebook who bans cryptocurrency related ads. But we should move ahead the social media and lunch into a world of total love for the blockchain/cryptocurrency world.

My New Years resolution is to get a flip phone with no smart capabilities. Having a smart phone is an addiction just like alcoholics or drug addicts. I use my smart phone easily over 5 hours daily (probably more like 10+). This time can be better spent with my family. I miss the times of going out to eat and everyone talking, no one on the phone texting or browsing the internet. Wish me luck, it will not be easy.  ;D

this is a well-known fact the way it affects the mind of the people is so viral that there is no cure

The biggest is problem is the governance that the networks have over your data. Taking it and then doing whatever the like with it. Projects like Sylo (check my post history) have a goal and an already working product to help take back our dependence on the main networks.

So because people die in car crashes, cars shouldn't be made any more, right? I think his argument is faulty. Even before the advent of social media were there no fake news? Did people and junk news paper publications not spread rumours?

Then what should we do? Hide our data? As far as i know the countries that have been doing this were only china,russia,North korea and USA,
 Most of the third world countries has no interest in doing such so. You were right and it is not facebook that you should be afraid of but instead watch and be careful in giving your data to google

The difference is social media is not passive, it is interactive and real time. It is literally changing every aspect of our lives, and in many ways allowing top down centralized manipulation and control of the population scalable down to a very granular level. I don't think anyone has any concept of how dangerous this can really be. What started as a platform for free expression, communication, and free enterprise has been turned into a global interconnected tumor of censorship, mobbing, and monopolistic thuggery.

You can be out of it, can't you?