The Dangers of Fake News.

Since 2016, since Donald Trump was elected president of the United States, web searches for the phrase “fake news” have shot up (Carson, 2017). Trump’s first, most memorable mention of fake news was during his first speech as president-elect, in which he pointed his finger at CNN journalist Jim Acosta and screamed “you are fake news” while refusing to answer the reporter’s question (Carson, 2017). Fake news is hardly a new idea however. It has been used for political news for a long time. In the 1828 USA presidential election, Andrew Jackson claimed his predecessor John Quincy Adams had brought out an American girl to satisfy the Tsar. In the 1930s Nazi Germany used fake news to perpetuate stereotypes, racism, and discrimination against Jews (Carson, 2017). Propaganda and fake news are very similar in the fact that they both bend the truth to emotionally persuade a group of people of a falsehood.

Now, however, it is much easier to promote falsehoods with the internet and social media. Before, it was nearly impossible because of the materiality of news. It cost a lot of money to produce and distribute newspapers and the ones who did provide society with news were under close scrutiny and control with media laws, on what they published. There were many less news outlets so the content they released could be controlled more easily. Also, building an audience back then was much harder than gaining lots of followers on social media and having them see what you are thinking.

We must find a way to control what is released on social media. Further, there should be a law or a custom that makes it up to every internet and social media user to filter the content they receive by paying close attention to the posts they “like” and “share” as well as the people they “follow”. Social media outlets should not be able to refer to people’s contacts as “friends” or “followers” because that spreads the false idea that people have things in common with their contact list and are chasing the same goal, like the case may be with real friends. 

                                                WORKS CITED
Carson, J. T. (2017, November 14). Fake news: What exactly is it – and can it really swing an election? Retrieved November 15, 2017, from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/0/fake-news-origins-grew-2016/

Carson, J. (2017, March 16). What is fake news? Its origins and how it grew in 2016. Retrieved November 15, 2017, from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/0/fake-news-origins-grew-2016/