Deceptive information, the bane of my existence. It constantly devastates my hope. Whether that be simply scrolling on Instagram, or watching TV commercial advertisements and what I despise the most, YouTube videos. They grind my gears. YouTube channels need something to hook the viewers to the channel it's what they need to live on this toxic platform. Furthermore, people are not only feeding clueless people false information but also causing the information to spread like a plague. If you haven't guessed it yet, I'm talking about “fake news” the biggest problem in our social media.
The Fix to Fake News
First of all, people commonly think that the easiest and most efficient way of fixing this problem is to have major companies that control the web such as Facebook and Google address this problem by letting them solve it. Facebook had already taken measures to cleanse its website. Some measures they've taken to suppress and ultimately exterminate fake news are, cooperating with a third party to precisely identify the erroneous information, preventing posting ads with false information, and the most important intervention, updating the detection of fake accounts used to spam.
What is Fake News?
There isn't a single definition of “fake news”. It is constantly changing with the evolution of the technology and media we use. There are multiple types of fake news. Some more prominent than others. Most of the fake news used in social media is “misleading news”. This news is partway true but used in a different context. For example, a “clickbait” title is used as a hook to attract the audience. This is mainly used by content creators on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter. Content creators make a living by entertaining their subscribers and viewers. They use titles and thumbnails to captivate viewers. But most of the time, viewers become disappointed and dislike the videos. YouTubers often receive a lot of hate for misleading viewers. Causing a career endangering outcome.
I hope to see large companies take actions such as Google and Facebook have. I especially want to see YouTube improve the lack of penalties for click-baiting. I realized this feat may be impossible for YouTube but I can only hope.
This is what tics me off. What part of the “Green Gummy bears” will destroy my world. This meaningless saying has one purpose. To attract people. They receive undeserved attention even though it clearly has no meaning and is a complete lie.
How to Detect and Prevent the Spread of Fake News
Before preventing the spread of fake news, you need to be able to identify it first. Identifying fake news could be something simple or something extremely minuscule only experts can discover them.
Steps to Identify Fake News
- Make sure to be cautious of any website that states “Not Secure” in the link. Don't save any of your personal that could be used against you.
- Common knowledge is your friend. If you see something similar to the “Green Gummy Bears” be wary and use common sense.
- Check who the author is. Most reliable authors tend to have a website they post on regularly.
- Use websites that fact-check information. Reliable websites that I use are FactCheck.Org, PolitiFact, and Snopes.
- Finally, does the web URL contain, “com”, “org”, and “ca”? Some unsecured websites use unsafe endings.
Stopping the Spread of Fake News
Once you are able to identify the fake news, terminating the spread is easier than it sounds. With popular and large companies, you are able to report fake news. Firstly, identify and clearly label the false information. Secondly, share the correct information without any mistakes. Finally, address the situation with the author who first created the fake news.