Misinformation plague
The lies of social media pose a dangerous threat
Katherine Ely / Asst. Opinion Editor / The USD Vista
One of the biggest issues I have with social media platforms is that it gives people an easier outlet to spread misinformation. In a world fueled by the internet, we can find answers to any questions we ask in a matter of seconds. While the internet is an amazing tool for many reasons, one of its downsides is that the content we are now reading, watching and listening to is not always completely accurate. The spread of misinformation is extremely detrimental because it dismantles our understanding of the truth for past, current and future generations.
There are so many reasons why we need to be careful about what we see and hear in the news, online, or in the context of social media. For one, the information we see and hear plays a very large role in shaping how we perceive the world. For example, when politicians advertise negative campaigns targeting their opponent, it can make viewers believe the person they are running against is unfit for the job. One downfall of the internet is that it provides a platform for anyone to express themselves freely. While I am all for the right to freedom of speech, what is said on the internet can be used as a tool to misinform people on important matters.
Platforms like Instagram and TikTok can really affect the way we think about a topic of debate. One example of how spreading misinformation can be harmful is when former president Donald Trump suggested to Americans in a Tweet that there was reason to believe the coronavirus could be treated by injecting bleach into the body. Because he was the president at the time and had a large following, many Americans did exactly that– drank bleach. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), chlorine dioxide, the main ingredient in bleach, can lead to many dangerous health problems including respiratory failure, liver failure and abnormal heart rates. Though there was no scientific evidence to support his public claim, many people believed his words to be true, and the portion of the country who drank bleach then faced dangerous health problems.
Another reason why spreading misinformation can be a terrible thing is that it blurs our understanding of the actual truth. Regularly used platforms like TikTok and Instagram allow people everywhere to contribute information misguidedly, without providing scientific or academic evidence that what they are saying is true. The culture of social media today is that people will do anything to see their content go viral. Because of this fascination with how many followers or views you can get, people are not always aware that their information is misguided or that they are part of the problem. I see TikToks all the time about random information that interests me. But simply because I see them online does not necessarily mean they are true.
Elon Musk recently announced that he was buying Twitter for 44 billion dollars with the intent to promote the use of free speech more online. Twitter’s previous owner had enforced censorship regulations around what users of the platform can be permitted to post.
I worry that Musk is opening a door without knowing what is on the other side of it. By unraveling Twitter’s moderation policies on free speech, Musk is essentially taking the company right back to where it was in its beginning stages. When it was originally created, Twitter executives had similar ideals as Musk on allowing users literary freedoms. However, over the past decade they began to realize how harmful it can be to promote a platform where people can unashamedly express violence, harassment or abuse their powers if they have a large following.
These regulations for social media platforms are in place to shield and protect people from wrongful speech. In a greater context, they also help regulate the spread of misinformation. Twitter’s current policy gives warnings on tweets before showing content to tell its users what they are seeing might be “fake news.” It is hard to predict what the outcome would be if Musk follows through in reversing Twitter’s policies on restricting free speech. But I fear that loosening the guidelines on free speech will only provoke confusion for people in distinguishing what information is fact and what is fiction.
There are a few ways for us to stop the spread of misinformation. For one, take everything you read on Twitter from now on with a grain of salt. That goes for other social media platforms such as Instagram and TikTok where it is not a legitimate source of information. When you hear or see something on one of these platforms, try to check that the data is coming from a real and reliable source.
We need to be critical about where we are finding information online. There was a TikTok that a girl made earlier this year about Mason Ramsey, the kid who went viral on the app in 2018 for posting a video of him yodeling in a Walmart. The girl praised Ramsey for donating all the profits from his video to the Family Equality Council, an organization for the parents of the LGBTQ+ community. The video was false and the rumors were eventually put to rest, but not before millions of people had seen and shared it.
If we form our opinions based on where we first see information, then we are agreeing to something that may not be truthful. One way to check if information is reliable is by searching for other articles on the topic from publications known to be reliable. If you see a headline and there is only one article on it, then it might not be believable. If you find that the New York Times, along with articles from CNN and USA Today with similar headlines, then it means that more than one news outlet is following the same story.
Though social media is a plague for enabling misinformation, it can also be helpful in spreading awareness on current social issues. During the summer of 2020, people all around the world took to social media platforms to bring attention to the racial inequities systemically rooted in the modern day world. People used Instagram, Twitter, TikTok etc. to start GoFundMe’s for organizations dedicated to the cause. While some hope to spread awareness on issues like this one, others might take advantage of the space to spread misinformation and derail viewers from seeing what is true. Our world needs to be mindful of where misinformation exists. The amount of information out there is limitless. Whether it is something you saw on an Instagram story, or the first article found through a vague Google search, it is so easy for us to spiral down the black hole that is the Internet. If we aren’t mindful, it will only perpetuate the problem for future generations. I implore you to stray from gullibility, and instead question the validity of what you see. Misinformation is a plague, and it is up to us to stop naivete from spreading.