Navigating Fake News & Preventing the Spread of Misinformation
The spread of misinformation or ‘fake news’ online has become an increasing concern for information professionals, as it becomes harder and harder to identify false information that is be presented as fact on social media platforms or by unreliable online news outlets. False information has always existed and been spread, whether by the public or the media, intentionally or unintentionally. The problem that the internet has created surrounding the issue is that now ‘fake news’ can be spread much farther and faster than ever before, quickly spiralling out of control. A librarians task is to ensure that the information being accessed by users is reliable, and thus they must have a good understanding of how to identify what is real and what is ‘fake’ news, particularly within Academic libraries where learning is being supported and the library should aim to ensure that what is being learnt is accurate and true.
The term ‘fake news’ has evolved in meaning. While it can be used to describe misinformation, the term was brought into the mainstream consciousness by President Donald Trump (BBC News, 2018), who used it to discredit news outlets reporting on things that weren’t necessarily false but that Trump did not agree with. For this reason, it is a somewhat dangerous term in its ambiguity. Since popularising the phrase, Trump has gone on to trigger one of the most significant movements against the spread of ‘fake news’, after social media platform Twitter decided to attach a disclaimer to the Presidents tweets claiming that he had won the 2020 election (Business Insider, 2020) . This disclaimer flags any tweet that may be deemed unreliable, highlighting that the content is “disputed” and may be “misleading” (Twitter, 2020). After years of social media platforms being reluctant to make any moves to prevent the spread of misinformation for fear of appearing to try to control user’s content, this represented a change in attitude and action towards this issue (The Guardian, 2016).
However, the issue of taking action against ‘fake news’ is a difficult one as it has the potential to be seen as or become censorship. For one, it could be argued that not all ‘fake news’ is misinformation. Websites such as The Onion publish work in the style of news articles that are deliberately false and fictitious. Their intent, though, is not to mislead or misinform. Their work is satirical, posted with their audience’s pre-understanding that these ‘articles’ are not a representation of fact. These forms of expression are what needs to be carefully navigated in the attempt to clamp down upon ‘fake news’ created with the malicious intent to misinform. The attempt made by Twitter, therefore, is a start in the right direction, as an individual is still allowed the right to post whatever information they want, and it will not be removed or censored, and instead only flagged.
References:
- BBC News (2018) How President Trump took ‘fake news’ into the mainstream, BBC News [online] [Accessed 13/01/2021] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-us-canada-46175024
- Woolf, N. (2016) Obama is worried about fake news on social media — and we should be too, The Guardian [online] [Accessed on 13/01/2021]https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/nov/20/barack-obama-facebook-fake-news-problem
- Zitser, J. (2020) Twitter updates disclaimers on Trump election tweets to reflect the fact that Joe Biden is the winner of the presidential election, Business Insider [online] [Accessed 13/01/2021] https://www.businessinsider.com/twitter-updates-labels-trump-tweets-to-declare-joe-biden-winner-2020-12?r=US&IR=T
