Spanning from yellow journalism in the nineteen hundred to tabloids and Facebook articles in modern times, the public has been exposed to false news that invade every aspect of their lives. The internet facilitates the spread of current events by allowing information to be accessible at one’s fingertips. Nevertheless, much of the information discovered online through social media has been found to be biased and simply inaccurate and continues to be spread throughout the public’s social profiles. Though false news has negative consequences that should be combatted by legal procedures in order to ensure the protection of citizen’s access to information, disinformation should be protected by the first amendment.
The publishing of fake news is …show more content…
One of the most popular stories on Ebola was titled “Texas Town Quarantined After Family of Five Test Positive for The Ebola Virus,” (PBS) which featured short videos throughout the article as a way to give an authentic vibe to the story and lead to it being shared over 330,000 times on Facebook. Articles like these increased the public's fears of the virus and spread into workplaces and schools so rapidly that whenever someone sneezed or coughed, shouts of “Ebola!” would be heard throughout the hallways. It was only months later, after the popularity of Ebola calmed down that the American public realized that there were only four cases and one death in the United states compared to the epidemic raging in Africa with over 11,000 …show more content…
Although fake news cannot be combatted through legal measures, social media platforms such as Facebook, possess the capability to limit the spread of such news articles. Craig Silverman provides a variety of actions platforms may take to limit the spread of disinformation. Because of impactful repercussions that will affect Facebook’s traffic and qualifications, they are unable to simply block news websites from their platform completely because that would create a lot of backlash. As a result, Silverman states that Facebook has made it easier for the average user to flag a post that contains false news so that it can be taken down much faster. This action allows for less fake news to slip through the cracks of algorithms created to catch newspapers with fake news. It also prompts Facebook to have humans review each flagged post and to verify the content before completely blocking it or maintaining it on the website instead of allowing a machine to decide for them. Overall, the best way to combat the spread of fake news, Silverman states, is to teach students from a young age to identify a false news article or platform before they take the information found there as truth and spread it around. Due to the rising use of technology in everyday life, schools should incorporate media
The publishing of fake news is …show more content…
One of the most popular stories on Ebola was titled “Texas Town Quarantined After Family of Five Test Positive for The Ebola Virus,” (PBS) which featured short videos throughout the article as a way to give an authentic vibe to the story and lead to it being shared over 330,000 times on Facebook. Articles like these increased the public's fears of the virus and spread into workplaces and schools so rapidly that whenever someone sneezed or coughed, shouts of “Ebola!” would be heard throughout the hallways. It was only months later, after the popularity of Ebola calmed down that the American public realized that there were only four cases and one death in the United states compared to the epidemic raging in Africa with over 11,000 …show more content…
Although fake news cannot be combatted through legal measures, social media platforms such as Facebook, possess the capability to limit the spread of such news articles. Craig Silverman provides a variety of actions platforms may take to limit the spread of disinformation. Because of impactful repercussions that will affect Facebook’s traffic and qualifications, they are unable to simply block news websites from their platform completely because that would create a lot of backlash. As a result, Silverman states that Facebook has made it easier for the average user to flag a post that contains false news so that it can be taken down much faster. This action allows for less fake news to slip through the cracks of algorithms created to catch newspapers with fake news. It also prompts Facebook to have humans review each flagged post and to verify the content before completely blocking it or maintaining it on the website instead of allowing a machine to decide for them. Overall, the best way to combat the spread of fake news, Silverman states, is to teach students from a young age to identify a false news article or platform before they take the information found there as truth and spread it around. Due to the rising use of technology in everyday life, schools should incorporate media