Although 21st-century technological inventions, like virtual social media, offer people new ways to access information, a significant portion of this information is fake. The greatest danger of fake information is that it denies objective facts, leading to real information having minimal impact. For example, President Trump once claimed that injecting disinfectants could potentially prevent and treat COVID-19. Many people believed his “treatment” and suffered serious consequences. According to Time magazine, there were 5,068 cases of disinfectant poisoning in the United States in March 2020 and 5,739 in April 2020. It wasn’t until May 2020, after the World Health Organization (WHO) and major media outlets debunked the claim, that the number of disinfectant poisoning cases in the U.S. dropped to 1,747.
If President Trump’s “treatment” was a mistake, a typical example of misinformation, then intentionally spreading disinformation is even more harmful to society. Guy Berger, an expert from UNESCO, once pointed out that some people mistakenly believe young people or people of African descent have immunity (some disinformation carries racist or xenophobic undertones). Others believe that in warmer climates or with the arrival of summer, people need not worry too much. These fabricated falsehoods are widely spread online by well-meaning but uninformed people, exacerbating premature deaths.
A typical case of disinformation is the viral film Plandemic. In the film, controversial former medical researcher Judy Mikovits repeats conspiracy theories about the COVID-19 pandemic, including claims that wearing masks makes people sick, that the virus was created in a lab, and that doctors are encouraged to state that their patients died of COVID-19. I watched this twenty-minute documentary, and although I know little about public health, I immediately spotted its flaws: there was no factual evidence (such as data or research) to support Judy Mikovits’ claims. While the film included numerous interviews with “doctors,” the interviews themselves do not prove the information is true.
So, as social media users, what can we do in the face of the misinformation and disinformation that spreads virally online? First, we must ensure that the information we believe is truthful, scientifically sound, and verifiable. For instance, we can use fact-checking websites like factCheck.org and FactChecker to verify the authenticity of the information. Secondly, whether it’s deliberate or accidental, we should have the courage to expose and criticize false information. While the impact of one person may be limited, if everyone can correctly assess information and inform those around them, it will deal a fatal blow to fake news.
In the so-called “post-truth era,” the boundaries of freedom of speech in Western societies, represented by the United States, have been greatly expanded, resulting in widespread anxiety and confusion among the general public about distinguishing between facts and “facts.” For social media users, how can we distinguish real information from fake information? How can we ensure the information we spread is truthful and accurate? For tech companies, how can they combat the spread of fake information? How can they guide users to more trustworthy sources of information? I believe that cultivating and establishing personal media literacy should be a mandatory course for all citizens in the “post-truth era.”
Although 21st-century technological inventions, like virtual social media, offer people new ways to access information, a significant portion of this information is fake. The greatest danger of fake information is that it denies objective facts, leading to real information having minimal impact. For example, President Trump once claimed that injecting disinfectants could potentially prevent and treat COVID-19. Many people believed his “treatment” and suffered serious consequences. According to Time magazine, there were 5,068 cases of disinfectant poisoning in the United States in March 2020 and 5,739 in April 2020. It wasn’t until May 2020, after the World Health Organization (WHO) and major media outlets debunked the claim, that the number of disinfectant poisoning cases in the U.S. dropped to 1,747.
If President Trump’s “treatment” was a mistake, a typical example of misinformation, then intentionally spreading disinformation is even more harmful to society. Guy Berger, an expert from UNESCO, once pointed out that some people mistakenly believe young people or people of African descent have immunity (some disinformation carries racist or xenophobic undertones). Others believe that in warmer climates or with the arrival of summer, people need not worry too much. These fabricated falsehoods are widely spread online by well-meaning but uninformed people, exacerbating premature deaths.
A typical case of disinformation is the viral film Plandemic. In the film, controversial former medical researcher Judy Mikovits repeats conspiracy theories about the COVID-19 pandemic, including claims that wearing masks makes people sick, that the virus was created in a lab, and that doctors are encouraged to state that their patients died of COVID-19. I watched this twenty-minute documentary, and although I know little about public health, I immediately spotted its flaws: there was no factual evidence (such as data or research) to support Judy Mikovits’ claims. While the film included numerous interviews with “doctors,” the interviews themselves do not prove the information is true.
So, as social media users, what can we do in the face of the misinformation and disinformation that spreads virally online? First, we must ensure that the information we believe is truthful, scientifically sound, and verifiable. For instance, we can use fact-checking websites like factCheck.org and FactChecker to verify the authenticity of the information. Secondly, whether it’s deliberate or accidental, we should have the courage to expose and criticize false information. While the impact of one person may be limited, if everyone can correctly assess information and inform those around them, it will deal a fatal blow to fake news.
In the so-called “post-truth era,” the boundaries of freedom of speech in Western societies, represented by the United States, have been greatly expanded, resulting in widespread anxiety and confusion among the general public about distinguishing between facts and “facts.” For social media users, how can we distinguish real information from fake information? How can we ensure the information we spread is truthful and accurate? For tech companies, how can they combat the spread of fake information? How can they guide users to more trustworthy sources of information? I believe that cultivating and establishing personal media literacy should be a mandatory course for all citizens in the “post-truth era.”