How Facebook and Google (and its Users) Can Fight Fake News Better
Tech companies aren’t using the right weapons to fight mistruths and prevent them from spreading.
The term “fake news” entered the public lexicon during last year’s election—and many critics blamed social media and tech giants for having a role in enabling its spread. And while Facebook and Google have taken steps to minimize the impact, the companies aren’t using the right weapons.
False reports have been around for centuries in various forms, but the so-called Information Age is ironically facing an inundation of misinformation. The advance of technology has made it easy to fake legitimacy and to spread ideas without verification.
“This has been a long-standing tradition in journalism, but the thing that has changed is the education levels and the astuteness of the audience,” Michael Bugeja, director of Iowa State’s Journalism School told RealClearLife.
Bugeja says people are more likely to people believe false information when they passively imbibe it in the form of push alerts on their phone and posts on their social media feeds. …
For the rest of the article, visit REAL CLEAR LIFE by clicking here.
Interpersonal Divide in the Age of the Machine 