How Spreading Of Fake News And Misinformation Is A Threat?

How Spreading Of Fake News And Misinformation Is A Threat?

The rise of social media is no doubt has been beneficial to us in many ways. But at the same time, it has also given rise to a lot of other problems as well. One of the many problems is the spreading of fake news and misinformation. The main purpose of social media is to provide people with a platform to voice their opinion. However, it is being misused by the general public for their own selfish gains.

Fake news or misinformation is mainly circulated either to defame people holding powerful positions or to make financial profits. This is why the number of fake news tend to increase, especially during election time. In this case, Facebook happens to be the main channel through which the fake news is circulated. However, in recent years, Facebook has taken the initiative to curb down on the problem of fake news on its platform. Other than Facebook even Twitter is also used to propagate false news.

Why spreading fake news is dangerous?

Well, there are so many reasons why spreading fake news is dangerous for society. The main purpose of spreading fake news is to manipulate the public against something or someone influential. For example, at the time of elections, you get to see a lot of political posts circulating on social media platforms. Let’s say a post is related to violence caused by a particular party which in reality is not committed by them. These type of posts leads to riots and chaos in the society.

Fake news is spread by people in order to defame influential and powerful people. Other than that, people also circulate misinformation for their own personal gains. No matter, what the reason is it can lead to fights and riots in the community. Therefore, the spreading of fake news needs to be stopped at all costs. There is an urgent need to stop people from manipulating others with misinformation and fake news.

What are the steps taken?

Big social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter have come to the forefront in order to fight the spreading of fake news and misinformation. They have already taken steps in order to curb down the problem.

In this case of fake news, Facebook has been very active in its action. They have made arrangements to verify posts so that people are not able to upload any misleading posts. If they detect any account repeating the act over and over again, their profiles are also deleted from the platform. No doubt, the steps were taken by Facebook have shown results. Since the 2016 elections, the spreading of fake news and misinformation has reduced to a great extent. However, they still have a long way to go before, it is completely stopped.

Spreading of fake news is no less than a crime. People should refrain from doing such acts for the well-being of society. Hopefully, the problem will be solved in the near future.

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