Misinformation runs rampant on social media

People know less and share more

By Opinions Editor Kenya Harris

Misinformation is cropping up on social media platforms across the board and efforts to combat this disinformation crisis are crucial in the modern world.

A Facebook study from January 2023 undertaken by USC, indicates that information sharing on these platforms plays a significant role in the spread of misinformation. 15 percent of news sharers were found to be responsible for spreading about 30 percent to 40 percent of the fake news according to the study's research.

“Beyond the physical and psychological consequences of misinformation, confusion can trigger actions based on fear. Fear has been a palpable sensation throughout this pandemic, and is often amplified when trusted authorities promote inconsistent opinions.” said the Journal of the Missouri State Medical Association.

Misinformation does the most damage in the categories of disaster, health, and politics, where negative consequences are most evident. In 2020 Donald Trump spread disinformation about the efficacy of hydroxychloroquine, a drug he claimed prevented the Corona Virus. For people that followed his advice this resulted in an increased risk of death for patients suffering from COVID-19.

Recently several images misattributed to the Israel Palestine war made viral rounds via social media giants like X (formerly Twitter), TikTok, Youtube, and WhatsApp. The footage that was alleged to be from the ongoing war in Gaza was in fact from the video game “Arma 3”. Another video of an attack from 2015 in Guatemala was incorrectly accredited to Gaza 2023.

This year alone AI has been advancing and so has its ability to intensify misinformation. whether it is a deepfake of an event that never happened or an AI-constructed image It is difficult to identify false reports from reality before sharing. Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro recently shared an image of what he believed to be a burned Israeli baby on X. When individual users ran the image through AI detectors, a consensus could not be reached on if the image was real. Different users got conflicting results but Shapiro removed the image after the outcry though it is still unclear if the images are real or AI.

“Right now, many people naively believe what they read on social media,” said Irene Wu, Professor of Communication, Culture and Technology at Georgetown University. “When the television became popular, people also believed everything on TV was true. It’s how people choose to access and react to information and news that’s important, not the mechanisms that distribute them.”

The conclusion of academic discourse suggests misinformation is either the user’s responsibility or the responsibility of social media platforms, though it is an ever-changing issue that may require a more comprehensive solution.

“Misinformation is not like a plumbing problem you fix. It is a social condition … you must constantly monitor and adjust to,” said Tom Rosenstiel former director of the American Press Institute.