Impact of Fake News in our Society Today

[Dunamisx]

Impact of Fake News in our Society Today


Fake news is what we all know and have different interpretation for, but as according to what I know, I see it as misinformation to the general public or an individual for a personal interest, which may cause a serious implications to the society and the world at large, it is important that we should know how those the participates in sharing fake news and being intentional about it, not putting into consideration then negative effects it may cause everyone at the receiving end.

I was informed on the social media this morning that the popular action movie actor Chackie Chan is dead, then the next I could do was to engaged other social media platforms to confirm this, just to later discover it was all fake news, this then brought me to writing to create this thread on how the impact is fake news has been affecting our society today, but before going further, hear the wiki definition of fake news.

Fake news or information disorder is false or misleading information (misinformation, disinformation, propaganda, and hoaxes) claiming the aesthetics and legitimacy of news.https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fake_news

Here is more explanation on what fake news is and how we can use a chart to express the meaning, categories and the effects of fake news in our society today and the world at large.


https://share.google/TDUoiIeSNtLp50ZFj


https://share.google/52Js7IszxUR1gZcye

[Obulis]

This Jackie Chan example i guess is a bit not personal however it perfectly shows fake news harm, fake news  spreads panic and wastes energy. Aside personal gain, its real danger falls in destroying trust and manuplating emotions. Finding out before spreading is an important move. It makes sense to fight fake news vendors by pausing before multiplying unverified contents which means protecting truth and the society at large (social well-being). Click baits as somany fake news appeara to be can be expunged  collectively by being vigilant.

[Dunamisx]

Its disheartening that you see how people are being lied upon, not even anymore are they scared of the weight in what they are doing against someone, its an horrible thing to lie about someone's death when he is still alive and healthy, all because you want to fulfil your own blogging selfish interest, i think there is more for our governments to do in regulating bloggers, leaving them just like this and the way they are left unpunished for falsification should now be taken into serious consideration, because they are misleading others and causing uproar in the society, individual freedom to use the internet does not give room for abuse.

[Odusko]

This is what social media have brought upon us and with time and season we keep discovering the negative aspects of social media and I still have more confidence in reading things related to current happening on a discussion Forum much more than social media and blogs, their are sponsored to create false narrative about trending issues and celebrities, so I am not surprised that you saw that on the social media that the famous actor chackie chan was dead only to fine out it was fake news.

[o48o]

Undermining news by putting everything under same umbrella of "news" has been tool for fascists since the start. And i am afraid that it will become worse, because AI can produce more fake news faster then people can debunk them. One problem with this is that this seems to make people believe less even at traditional media, because they have been sold the idea that every media is fake, so they can't determine what's real and what's not.

In my country, media literacy and spotting misinformation is an essential part of civics education in my country, and i kinda wish that other countries would adapt that in their school system.

[Fiatless]

The social media is not a good place to get information except they are from verified sources. If the news about the death of the actor was from his verified social media channels, it might be true. But when it is from just an individual, it should be verified.

The effect of misinformation cannot be overemphasized. False information could lead to conflict and even war. The worst riots or unrest in the UK in current times was caused by misinformation.

https://www.npr.org/2024/08/10/nx-s1-5066896/uks-worst-riots-in-years-were-incited-by-online-disinformation-about-asylum-seekers

[OgNasty]

The worst part about this fake news pandemic is that it is coming from previously trusted sources. I don’t know what happened during the Obama Administration, but ever since then you can’t trust a single thing coming from mainstream media. The part that bothers me is there is a massive chunk of the population that thinks it is a conspiracy theory.

[uchegod-21]

In my country, bloggers are generally constituting nuisance on social media with the gossips they spread, causing panic to the people or even fuel an unhealthy rivalry between social media fans.

Families have been broken because of these, marriages ruined, relationships ruined, businesses collapsed and employees losing their jobs. Alot of damages have been done already. The only language these people who spread fake news understand is a lawsuit slammed to their face. After which they come begging for mercy after the damage they've caused.

Every government should treat this as important. Make good laws restricting people from sharing unverified information.

[Apocollapse]

Oh that's the definition of fake news, well we can easily spot fake news if we follow feminist accounts.

Women always say most men have no effort, can't understand with them, can't make them secure, can't become a good father and husband, while the root is all about money and they can't appreciate what given by the men.

The impact is too big and widely spread, this make women are in advantage over men in this generation.

[_Miracle]

This is 20 years old George Carlin "Life is Worth Losing" 2005 The whole set is worth watching, but this is the 5minuets to sum it up for you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVrMKsYdZ-A&ab_channel=FrustratedIdealist

"It's a big club and you ain't in it"
"It's called the American dream because you have to be asleep to believe it"

combined with a lack of critical thinking skills


The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark by Carl Sagen   -->1996
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtCwxFTMMDg&ab_channel=CharlieRose

[knowngunman]

This Jackie Chan example i guess is a bit not personal however it perfectly shows fake news harm, fake news  spreads panic and wastes energy. Aside personal gain, its real danger falls in destroying trust and manuplating emotions. Finding out before spreading is an important move. It makes sense to fight fake news vendors by pausing before multiplying unverified contents which means protecting truth and the society at large (social well-being). Click baits as somany fake news appeara to be can be expunged  collectively by being vigilant.

This is why I have selected platforms I follow for updates in different sectors like politics, sports, entertainment and international affairs. Any time I come across a news on a random platforms on my news feeds, I first checked reputable platform first before attempting to share it to other platforms. It's unfortunate how some platforms that are supposed to be informing people are now misinforming people without verifying the information they are feeding to the public. They are quick to make a post about events but last to do research. I don't hesitate to block a platform once I discover they're fond of sharing unverified information.

[uneng]

The worst consequence of fake news is that we are heading into a world where people can't trust each other anymore. Everyone is suspicious and seen as potentially harmful, hostile. Trust builds societies, civilizations and push individuals to the next evolutional level. Lies, manipulation and abuses bring decadence and conflicts.

Fake news have always existed in some proportion. What happens nowadays is that it's becoming widespread, a real pandemic with devastating consequences. Of course there is always a way out, so the scenario can be reverted, but it totally depends on the free will of each individuals. And by the daily actions and decisions people take, I conclude people chose to live by the lies or the fake news.

It's disturbing to reach this conclusion, but people are united by fake news these days. Those who want to join a social group have to decide if they want to adopt narrative A or B, being both of them fake news. The another alternative besides those two is a lonely path you have to discover by yourself.

[IjawMan]

Fake news spread faster than wildfire, gratitude to the internet that makes this instant spread of fake now possible.

And with the fact that this generation have gone lazy to fact check a news before consuming it and hurriedly posting it on socials for others consumption makes the whole phenomenon of fake news hard to handle.

Bloggers and social media influencers makes the phenomenon worse in their hustle and competition for traffic and large followers in their page/handles. The government has to assume it upon itself to educate her citizens the effects of fake news because not many of them are aware of the negative effects and harm it can potentially cause.

[Dunamisx]

In my country, bloggers are generally constituting nuisance on social media with the gossips they spread, causing panic to the people or even fuel an unhealthy rivalry between social media fans.

This is part of the reasons why we need the government to take this aspect serious, if these same blogger can be publishing fake news about the dead of a president, what else are they afraid of that they can't talk about, but when there are regulatory actions against them, people will be scared of bringing out fake news even when they are very sure if the source.

[Tmoonz]

This is what social media have brought upon us and with time and season we keep discovering the negative aspects of social media and I still have more confidence in reading things related to current happening on a discussion Forum much more than social media and blogs, their are sponsored to create false narrative about trending issues and celebrities, so I am not surprised that you saw that on the social media that the famous actor chackie chan was dead only to fine out it was fake news.

The social media has lot of advantages in the society today so we don't also have to be surprised for it's disadvantages the AI videos and pictures editing are wrongly use to care out fake information for content creation all in the name attracting viewers for monetization, there is nothing the society are doing this days just to make money, the society has lost some morals and what we only owe to ourselves is to be very careful on following suit to spread this same rumors, every information should be verified before being accepted and this is the major problem some people have.

[bitterguy28]

Here is more explanation on what fake news is and how we can use a chart to express the meaning, categories and the effects of fake news in our society today and the world at large.


https://share.google/TDUoiIeSNtLp50ZFj


https://share.google/52Js7IszxUR1gZcye

honestly the effects of fake news is too grand to explain in such a little amount of time it has short term and long term effects that would surely ruin a community

i think that it is caused of people losing the ability to think critically and instead keeps accepting all kinds of news even if it is not real because they can't assess what is real and what is not anymore

[Hispo]

In my country, bloggers are generally constituting nuisance on social media with the gossips they spread, causing panic to the people or even fuel an unhealthy rivalry between social media fans.

This is part of the reasons why we need the government to take this aspect serious, if these same blogger can be publishing fake news about the dead of a president, what else are they afraid of that they can't talk about, but when there are regulatory actions against them, people will be scared of bringing out fake news even when they are very sure if the source.

Though, it would be a problem to try to balance that kind of regulation with the rights people have to free speech. In countries like the United States, where people take their freedom to say whatever they want very seriously, it would be almost impossible to carry out regulatory actions upon people on social media, there would be a big backlash and an important percentage of users may decide to leave that service, because of the lack of freedom there.

Here in my country, which lives under an autocratic administration, is in fear of publishing anything against the government on social media, as it may lead to arrest. That is a point which is never supposed to be reached in any democratic country and it is why it is so difficult to regulate information.

[Ishicryptic]

Fake news has become a very big problem in our societies, you need to first doubt any news that you hear on social media until you verify from different sources which is not supposed to be so. The next level of fake news is using AI to impersonate people's voices and images, especially notable people to spread fake news, people will think that it is the person that is being impersonated that is speaking, many people have been scammed through this means. It is worrisome that trusted news sites have been used to spread these fake news and it is reducing their reputations, they really should be verifying news before allowing people to post on their sites.

[Agbamoni]

Woe to those who believe everything they see on social media.

The Journalist and influencer making wave in the industry started their career by disseminating true and legit information, and after they got the fame and followers they began sharing invalid information knowing full well their followers will trust them. This is the era we are. Finding correct information and reliable sources these days is like trying to find Wi-Fi in the middle of the desert.

[Pressurizedem]

It is very normal for people to spread fake news and I can tell you that fake news spread more faster than  goodnews, reason is because those fake news are used to defame people especially good people, therefore when the bad eggs see that such information is spreading about a particular person they hate, they will increase the rate at which the information is spreading and cook their own additional stories and add to it so it will be more suitable in the ears of those who will hear and believe.


However, I believe interpretation of messages defers from one person to another, the way A will decode the information heard is different from the way B will decode it, and so those who easily believe fake informations are the ones who the informations are detrimental to.