The spread of misinformation on social media has grown strikingly. False narratives and images have proliferated frequently on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and WhatsApp, and have found their way into the mainstream media as well.
The Facebook news feed is a major force in the spread of social media misinformation. The company is coming under scrutiny for the spread of false news and its use of false advertising to manipulate people, particularly on the topic of vaccines and pharmaceuticals.
We’ve all heard about the fake news phenomenon. Stories that seem to be too good to be true – and we don’t always know how to tell the difference – have circulated on social media as fact. But do they really take advantage of the thousands of fake social media accounts that exist?
“Fake news” continues to be an enormous problem on social media platforms and has been for years given the term is often used to refer to false and/or misleading news stories. Media outlets and publishers have struggled with how to define fake news. Some say that it is simply reporting that something did not happen or that did not happen as reported, while others say that it is true reporting that is spun to make the story appear false.
by Νίκος Κασιμάτης