Fake news is stories that are produced intentionally to mislead the readers. Fake news is directly concerned with providing false information to a specific audience (Celliers & Hattingh, 2020). The stories created are usually structured to either affect the readers' views or perspectives, promote a political agenda, or spread confusion. Over the years, fake news has become a profitable business source for many social media and online sites. False information can be deceiving for its reader as they may be from trusted websites; at times, they may use names, citations, or addresses of reputable news outlets. Three separate elements can be identified in association with fake news. These elements are mistrust, misinformation, and manipulation (Lazer et al., 2018). There are various forms of fake news that readers are exposed to each day, and it has now become essential to identify what is and what is not fake news.
Fake news is not credible information or media as it is created based on unreliable information and does not include facts. Contrastingly, media that is credible involves content that can be trusted, and that is competent. This contrast means that for media content to be identified as holding credibility, the information and content provided to the audience should be believable beyond any proof of its contentions (Sitaula et al., 2020). As opposed to fake news, credible media is not characterized by personal or political bias but is instead defined by objectivity, accuracy, fairness, and a lack of bias. Based on these characteristics, fake news can be defined as being biased, possessing inaccurate information, and grossly lacking objectivity.
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One major causes of fake news is to establish clickbait. Different media platforms can use fake stories to draw in more website visitors and increase their advertising revenue. Another cause of fake news is the aim of spreading propaganda concerning a particular political cause or agenda. False information can be created as a way of misleading an audience concerning a specific political topic. Sloppy journalism can also act as a cause of fake news. At times, reporters and journalists may publish an article that is based on unreliable information (Sitaula et al., 2020). This sloppiness results in stories with false information that eventually misleads an audience.
Due to the presentation of invented, false, or distorted information, fake news adversely affects its readers' decision-making abilities. One of these effects includes the spread of fear across a society based on false information. By providing false details, fake news can create fear in its readers over a false reality. Fake news can also promote political bigotry as it is often biased to support one political view. Through the information provided, fake news can influence its leaders to hold negative and prejudiced beliefs and opinions over a political side that are not accurate (Lazer et al., 2018). As these opinions are not based on fact, this may result in political bigotry. Fake news may also cause bullying and violence against innocent people. By providing false information that targets particular individuals, these individuals may be harassed or even bullied over different media platforms.
One of the main ways to solve and tackle fake news is to increase the use of reporting and flagging tools among users of different media platforms. Users should be encouraged by different social media platforms to use tools that will increasingly filter false information. Media organizations should also create fast checking sites to enable individuals to have easy access to credible information and facts. Lastly, there should be increased training and education of users on how to apply critical thinking to their digital media literacy skills. This application will support users to easily identify fake news and avoid consuming it.
An example of fake news is the article “Cure for Corona Virus” by SimleMarNet. It claims that freshly boiled garlic water is a cure for Coronavirus (SimleMarNet, 2020). This article is fake news as it claims that the consumption of garlic will treat Coronavirus. This data is false and misleading as there are no antiviral treatments that are yet to be established for COVID-19, according to CDC. However, the CDC recommends that patients seek supportive care for the treatment of their symptoms (CDC, 2020). One of the main characteristics that this article depicts is the inclusion of false information. Its claim that garlic can be used as a cure for Coronavirus is unsupported and not based on any existing facts. The information provided is not supported by any evidence making it highly misleading to its audience. The article also appears to be a form of clickbait acting as a way to increase the number of website visitors.
Due to the misleading information provided, the article can lead its readers to consume garlic based on the false belief that it can treat COVID-19. This belief can be dangerous for an individual who decides to consume garlic water as opposed to seeking supportive treatment once infected. One of the main elements of make it stick that the article uses is basing its false information on foundational knowledge that is already known to its audience (Brown et al., 2014). An example of this is the emphasis that the virus originates from Wuhan, which is an established fact. The article also outlines that the disease also has no known cure, which is also true. Through the inclusion of foundational knowledge, the article is able to convince its readers that its information is also credible.
References
Brown, P. C., Roediger III, H. L., & McDaniel, M. A. (2014). Make it stick . Harvard University Press.
Celliers, M., & Hattingh, M. (2020). A Systematic Review on Fake News Themes Reported in Literature. Responsible Design, Implementation and Use of Information and Communication Technology: 19th IFIP WG 6.11 Conference on e-Business, e-Services, and e-Society, I3E 2020, Skukuza, South Africa, April 6–8, 2020, Proceedings, Part II , 12067 , 223–234. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-45002-1_19
Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (2020). COVID-19: Potential Treatments. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/your-health/treatments-for-severe-illness.html
Lazer, D. M., Baum, M. A., Benkler, Y., Berinsky, A. J., Greenhill, K. M., Menczer, F., ... & Schudson, M. (2018). The science of fake news. Science , 359 (6380), 1094-1096.
SimleMarNet. (2020). Cure for Corona Virus . https://zh-cn.facebook.com/Thangboi2019Mhaokip/posts/cure-for-corona-virusgood-news-wuhans-corona-virus-can-be-cured-by-one-bowl-of-f/3346312055401456/ .
Sitaula, N., Mohan, C. K., Grygiel, J., Zhou, X., & Zafarani, R. (2020). Credibility-based fake news detection. In Disinformation, Misinformation, and Fake News in Social Media (pp. 163-182). Springer, Cham.
