Fake news are now widespread on the internet. What are the causes and consequences of this?
In the current 4.0 technology era, the term "Internet" is becoming more and more popular. There is a saying "If you don't know something, google it", and people use the internet as a search engine. Although it cannot be said that the internet is the place where all human knowledge is located, it is also a treasure trove of necessary information and data for all fields. Every second that passes, millions of people interact on social networks and constantly updated information will come to them. Besides the benefits, the Internet brings, to many people it is like a "black box" too big to control and manage all information. Popular data on Internet forums have become a topic of great interest because it reflects social behavior and human cognition. It is because of the convenience and free use that the phenomenon of fake news appears more and more on the web and affects people's lives.
According to Soll, J.(2016) fake news was very common in the past, however, the term "fake news" first appeared when sensational reports were written in newspaper articles in 1890. Fake news is false or misleading information presented as news usually aimed at a person or an organization or created to make money through advertising ( Hunt, E., 2016). Fake news is created for many different reasons that we do not expect.
The first is the abuse of freedom of speech. Everyone thinks that every citizen has the right to freedom of expression and no one has the right to stop them. Whenever, how they feel, they can express themselves anywhere without considering whether it is right or wrong. A woman on the road accidentally saw a collision but through social networks, this story is exaggerated in very serious and untrue terms. That is why it has become the root of the rapidly growing fake news. It would not be worth mentioning if people used their freedom of speech for good purposes and were able to control their behavior. Instead of using them rationally, some people turn this into a tool to benefit themselves without paying attention to social norms, to profit from their agendas and propaganda. This shows that the right to free speech both brings benefits and serious risks to the detriment of journalistic standards.
Of course, just the above reason is not enough, if people only express their views through words, it is impossible to reach many people, they need a place to express their thoughts and that is the social network- the second reason we need to mention. An ideal place where anyone can do what they want without control. This is considered the biggest drawback that we need to mention. More than a third of adults in the US believe Pizzagate's story that a connection during the Clinton campaign to a pedophile ring is probably or certainly true. Only 29% of people are sure this is a false story (Frankovic, 2016). In addition, we can see the influence of social media most pronounced during the anti-government protests in Brazil in 2015 with 64% of protesters believing that the Labor Party (PT) wanted to create a communist regime. property in the country, 54% of people also think that a drug cartel is the armed wing of the party, and 43% think that PT sent 50,000 illegal immigrants from Haiti to vote in elections. These are all verifiable false stories that are widely shared and spread across social networking sites (Arnaudo, 2017).
The third factor is the agenda and propaganda. Everyone knows propaganda plays a huge role in arousing public emotions and agendas and doing the same job. This is created by people's unresolved problems and after reshaping them spread widely on different channels to provoke public thoughts and behavior. It is spread by many hoaxes related to different ideologies, organizations, and political parties.
Although fake news is no longer a new phenomenon, we cannot deny that its effects are increasing. As a member living in an increasingly technologically advanced society, the use of media and social networking sites to update daily news has become very popular. However, due to the emergence of fake news, we always have to question the accuracy of the news. You can see a lot of fake news appearing on the web very easily, people don't know what is real and what is fake. This inadvertently creates suspicion and distrust in the media, people cannot believe any real news and information. Even the most trusted media face a lot of problems. Fake news and other types of misinformation can come in many forms. They can also have a big impact because information shapes an individual's worldview and way of thinking, and decision-making is also based on information. Information is exaggerated and distorted, directly affecting the correct decision of the recipient of the information. In addition, fake news adversely affects financial and health factors, it can create racism and lead to violent behavior online. There are even cases that greatly influence decisions about people like voting for elections. During the 2016 US presidential election, for example, in the days leading up to the election, announcements went viral on social media that Hillary Clinton had passed away, prompting Democratic voters to target declares that the date of the election has been changed. It is not enough for each individual to be influenced by fake news, state agencies, organizations, businesses, and collectives are also affected, especially the PR profession. The goal of the media relations function of public relations is to share stories with reporters to get them to deliver accurate information in order to influence the actions and concerns of others. This job requires acting with integrity, reporting only the facts, and managing press materials through legal departments to ensure that any statements or information are not exaggerated or misrepresented. That's why it's unfair that other people can publish completely false information.
As intelligent users, we should be able to distinguish between the information we receive on a daily basis. First of all, when reading certain news, you should pay attention to the source of the article, and read the article carefully to grasp it correctly instead of just focusing on reading the title. Please check the author of the article, the date of publication, and some supporting sources for a better assessment so that you do not become a victim of fake news.
To sum up, it led to a few points of fake news causes, consequences, and precautions. The freedom of speech, the emergence of social networks, and the lack of control over online information sources have contributed to the increasing prevalence of fake information. People lose faith in the information they see every day, and suspicions grow. Fake information directly affects people's thoughts. There are many precautions to beware of fake news if we follow them, we’ll be safe from any type of fake news
