The power of fake news and the threat of misinformation

The world is currently under a pandemic that has put billions of people under lockdown, has threatened our ways of life, affected businesses, caused thousands of deaths and spread a general fear. But something worse than a virus pandemic has been going on social media – the spread of rumors, misinformation and fake news.

When we think of fake news, we think of social media posts with rather fantastic, implausible stories. But there is so much more to fake news than unrealistic social media titles. Fake news have the power to build a misleading representation of reality posing a threat to our security and safety and forcing us to consider how we can build trust in information.

While users regularly access social media for the latest news and information, this information cannot always be trusted. Nowadays, when most of the people are practicing social distancing, social media is an appealing way to stay in touch with family and friends and the businesses that have a strong digital platform are in advantage. But it is also important that we turn our attention to health-related information from established news sources rather than from shared stories in social media. A negative fearmongering title can easily distract us from what is true and what isn’t.

When people are fearful they seek information to reduce uncertainty. Unfortunately, there are many websites and pages which are exploiting the current situation by giving false information in order to turn the attention to their content and ultimately make money out of it.

What can we do about it?

I think that the best thing we can do is to be aware that not everything we read on social media is true and get our news from authoritative and reputable news services.