The Solution to Fake News is Us.

Reeling back and forth between truth and lies we find ourselves at a precipice within the feeds of our social media. Even the silliest among us are getting worried. It was hard to miss Sacha Baron-Cohen’s recent critique of the big social media platforms. At the heart of his argument, he suggested that Facebook, Google, and Twitter all peddle in online disinformation and represent nothing less than “the greatest propaganda machine in history.”

Baron-Cohen is right about social media. It can muddy the way we communicate and even undermine our democratic process. Many people I know just want to get away from it. I want to reinvent it. I see a future where online discourse on social media promotes civil debates and consensus building, rather than divisiveness and conspiracy theories.

Profit vs. Merit

Social media was initially designed to allow users to connect in novel and entertaining ways. Suddenly, we are consumed by sending cat pics to our friends, family, and colleagues, and in turn, they’d share the meows to their friends, family, and colleagues. Powerful algorithms keep us clicking, sharing, and generating advertising impressions. Unfortunately, humans are hardwired to respond to the sensational, so content that taps into outrage and fear gets amplified. As a result, fake news outperforms real news and lies spread while truth gets blurred. In fact, fake news spreads 6X quicker than the truth does. And while false stories outperform the truth on every subject—including business, terrorism and war, science and technology, and entertainment—fake news about politics regularly does best. 

Safiya Umoja Noble, a professor at the University of California at Los Angeles, warned about this in her book  Algorithms of Oppression. Data leveraged by social media platforms is fed into algorithms, which amplify human biases about everything from race to politics. Social media creates self-perpetuating echo chambers that amplify biases that are reinforced through reach and repetition. Advertisers harness our private data to identify our patterns and preferences while search engines feed us only information based on the probability that we will click, ensuring we stay trapped in an information loop stuck on auto-repeat.

If you are to believe Mark Zuckerberg, social media is all about consumer choice and free expression, so limits to speech, no matter how reprehensible, should be avoided. Testifying before Congress, Zuckerberg said that he found Facebook posts denying the Holocaust "deeply offensive," but suggested they should stay on his platform because people need to be free to make up their own minds. Outside the right to free speech not pertaining to private spaces, this belies a universal truth that the Holocaust did in fact happen. There is no need to argue otherwise. Maintaining consensus on certain universal truths doesn’t impinge on free speech. Not every opinion has merit and deserves to be promoted.

In fact, the veracity of a social media post has little to do with its reach. Algorithms optimize for engagement, and humans engage the most when content stirs baser instincts like fear, outrage, and titillation. That is why tornadoes, which kill about 50 Americans a year, are ranked as a more common cause of death than asthma, which kills more than 4,000 Americans a year. And paid distribution increases the threat of misinformation exponentially. In the runup to the 2016 US presidential election, Russian operatives Cozy Bear and Fancy Bear broadcasted state-sponsored lies through thousands of fake social media accounts and paid social media campaigns. Spreading lies millions of times over; the more they are repeated, the greater the illusion of truth. 

Google and Twitter have begun to address these problems by limiting political ads on their platforms, but Facebook still allows political advertising, even if it peddles in disinformation. More frighteningly, our personal data can be leveraged to micro-target lies like these for maximum, grass-roots effect. What would have happened if social media existed in the 1930s when fascists first moved against a democratic Germany? Would @joseph-goebbels be able to run a paid ad campaign about the final solution to the “Jewish problem?”

Take Back Responsibility

Social media can amplify lies and prioritize profit over healthy discourse. However, we are not powerless. As citizens, we need to step up and curate the online experiences we want and deserve. We need to take the responsibility to educate ourselves and set about redesigning a new, less algorithm-driven town square where the human desire to connect and share with others cannot be totally co-opted. We must demand accountability when it comes to protecting our privacy, and utilize platforms that provide the tools needed to promote and maintain civil discourse and communal trust.

To this end, here are five ways to help limit misinformation and promote civil discourse online:

1. Verify sources and facts before sharing anything on social media.
2. Seek out and attempt to understand the best arguments from those with opposing views to yours.
3. Look for social media sites that employ moderation (AI and crowd-sourced) and promote content based on merit.
4. Never demonize those with whom you disagree.
5. Put your phone down and engage with people IRL. 

Despite my concerns over privacy, misinformation, and civil discourse, I am optimistic about the future of social media. The desire to engage and share is the foundation of any civilization. Social media has the power to bring us together, recommit universal truths, and build real relationships like no other. But we need to take ownership of it. As with any relationship, you receive only what you're willing to give.