Want to know how to identify fake news? Read on to learn about discerning truth from falsehood on social media.
One of the greatest challenges for any person who consumes mass media today, which is nearly all of us, is discerning truth from falsehood.
In my novel, Significant, a private security club of gifted Zoomers (Gen-Xers) who intercept an electronic message between a Russian general and South African billionaire must decipher if the information is true or planned disinformation intended to mislead them. Their task puts their own lives at risk.
In today’s media environment, each one of us first needs to have some basic media literacy in order to protect ourselves from disinformation and to help us avoid becoming a part of the problem by passing on what you have been told is true but is actually false. Disinformation campaigns are taking social media platforms by storm. A large percentage of posts in the form of text, videos, news stories, etc. that people are passing around to one another through social media networks is false, and some of it is strategically planted as part of a disinformation campaign.
Let me give you two personal examples.
First, an example of my own guilt. Several months ago, I saw a quote supposedly attributed to C. S. Lewis which seemed to provide prophetic insight into COVID-19. I had never read the quote, and the person who posted it portrayed it as coming from Lewis’ work, Screwtape Letters. I have read Screwtape Letters more than once and didn’t recall it, but perhaps I missed it, I thought.
I hadn’t. I should have simply grabbed my copy of the book and looked or asked my friends who are Lewis scholars. They would have told me instantly it was not Lewis. Instead, I foolishly passed it on, Then I had to do mea culpas to every person I forwarded the quote to without adding my reservation about it being a real Lewis quote. One of my friends texted me immediately and said, ”It’s fake news.”
At another time, a short video passed around by some friends comparing a political leaders’ supporters to supporters of Adolf Hitler. I wasn’t sure if it was a joke or meant to be a serious statement, but people reacted to it as if it was legitimate discourse.
Making any social or political comparisons of Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany to any contemporaneous events is a losing proposition that only reveals a lack of historical knowledge by those who make them. Jewish leaders have vociferously communicated how such comparisons offend them and true survivors of the hideous events of the Holocaust. The posts were not appropriate or funny as jokes, and way out of line if meant to be serious.
Recently, ESPN reporter Stephen A. Smith called pro-football player DeSean Watson to ask him, "What the hell are you doing?! Why would you do something like that?" when Watson invoked Adolf Hitler in an antisemitic social media post.
Researchers have been looking at incendiary rhetoric like these posts about Hitler, considering if they are actually created as part of a sophisticated disinformation campaign designed to turn Americans against one another. In a recent study by Samantha Bradshaw and Philip N. Howard, published in the Journal of International Affairs Editorial Board, they document the growing use of social media disinformation campaigns, noting that:
State actors are increasingly leveraging these platforms to spread computational propaganda and disinformation during critical moments of public life. These actions serve to nudge public opinion, set political or media agendas, censor freedom of speech, or control the flow of information online.
U.S. security agencies have been keeping a close watch on the ongoing disinformation campaigns of nations opposing the U.S., especially those orchestrated by China, Russia, and Iran. These campaigns are intended to create polarization and ill will among people of differing political orientations. It is not difficult to see how successful they have been. These organized efforts of computational propaganda to polarize and divide people with disinformation can easily influence us if we are not aware of it.
So how can you discern truth from falsehood? Let me give you three practical guidelines to consider when interacting on social media.
Be highly skeptical of the information you come across on social media networks. Posts are often misleading, manipulative, or outright false. If something makes you feel uneasy on social media, it is probably an intuitive warning that you are being manipulated.
Do your homework before sharing anything on social media. Who created the information (video, blog, post, statement, picture, etc.)? What are the biases of the person or persons who created it? Is there an obvious political motivation? Are there two or more other credible sources to verify the information?
State your sources. When you do pass on information through social media, state from whom you received the information and encourage others to do their own homework rather than assuming it is accurate information.
These three guidelines could save you from unnecessary conflict and embarrassment in sharing or falling for fake news. Like the characters in Significant, over time your discernment will grow in recognizing disinformation.
Sources:
Wulfsohn, Joseph A. “Stephen A. Smith, Mark Levin spar over DeSean Jackson's anti-Semitic posts, kneeling protests” (10 July, 2020). Available at https://www.foxnews.com/media/ stephen-a-smith-mark-levin-desean-jacksons-anti-semitic-kneeling-protests
Bradshaw, Samantha, and Philip N. Howard. "The global organization of social media disinformation campaigns." Journal of International Affairs 71, no. 1.5 (2018), p. 23.
Tucker, Joshua A., Andrew Guess, Pablo Barberá, Cristian Vaccari, Alexandra Siegel, Sergey Sanovich, Denis Stukal, and Brendan Nyhan. "Social media, political polarization, and political disinformation: A review of the scientific literature." Political polarization, and political disinformation: a review of the scientific literature (March 19, 2018) (2018).
Woolley, Samuel C., and Philip N. Howard, eds. Computational propaganda: political parties, politicians, and political manipulation on social media. Oxford University Press, 2018.
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