Internet: A source of information or misinformation?

Examples of fake news and/or trolling in different social media sites

In the 21st century, internet is our main source of information since it is convenient, and accessible to many, due to that, many people use the internet as a means of spreading information, but nowadays people tend to also use it as a way to misinform other individuals. They use it to misinform people for political propaganda purposes, to damage a group like a company or an individual’s reputation, or other malicious intent only known to the author of the fake news or the “troll”.

Fake News

The beginning of fake news is quite difficult to pinpoint, but one prominent event in the history of fake news was around the mid-2016. A media editor for Buzzfeed, Craig Silverman, noticed stories that had no evidence to speak of circulating around social media in Eastern Europe. This small group of people creating the baseless news saw this as an opportunity to create money via Facebook’s advertising system. The more people clicked on their “news” the more ad revenue they would receive. Obviously the “news” they put out to social media were fake, and this was one of the ways the phrase “fake news” began.

Here are examples of fake news in different social media sites :

Petrol for cleaning face masks

According to an interview with Duterte, gasoline or diesel can be used to disinfect surfaces and hands to kill the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19. This is clearly wrong since inhaling and having prolonged contact with gasoline can be harmful to one’s health. But still, President Duterte’s loyal supporters believe in what he said and follow his word (The Straits Times, 2020).

Banana and Salt against Covid-19

Another instance of fake news manipulating the public was this rumor being spread about bananas, and gargling salt water helps in defending yourself against COVID 19. This resulted in the increased sales of bananas, which affected the local farmers in a good way because it helped the local farmers with their produce, but it also shows how fake news can easily sway the economy. And similar to the previous accusation, this is false and has no scientific evidence to back it up (Coconuts Manila, 2020).

Queen Elizabeth and Duterte

Richard Gomez, an actor and now Ormoc City Mayor, shared a fake story from alter vista blog that claims Queen Elizabeth II has called President Rodrigo Duterte a “brave man.” This Twitter post caught the attention of the many netizens, including Duterte’s supporters, and called him out to verify the legitimacy of information before sharing it to his followers online.

Trolling

Social media, as we all know, is a huge part of our lives. We use it in everything, and it’s everywhere. But the world population is 7.3 billion and the Internet has 3.17 billion users. With these, all types of users will undoubtedly be subjected to some form of social media trolling during their usage. Trolls are what we call the people who create accounts in social media sites just to create conflicts by making controversial statements that causes havoc.

Here are some examples of the trolling of some of these “trolls”.

A facebook user posted a call-out for the protest action against the burial of the dictator Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng Mga Bayani, then another account made a comment alleging that people were offered money to attend the event.

Another netizen used Facebook to give a death threat to Rappler reporter Pia Ranada after asking the president questions on catcalling.

Conclusion

In conclusion, fake news and trolling causes individuals to believe in something wrong and unfortunately there is no sure way to stop the circulation of fake news on the internet. Although there is no sure way to delete them and stop the authors from posting them again on the internet, the best thing that we can do is to spread awareness about fake news, that it is important to always fact check information from social media, to critically think about what is happening around you and not just blindly believe the information you perceive, no matter how true the information might sound. As for trolling, the best way to handle this, is in a calm and orderly way. Strong emotions can trigger certain reactions. Thus, one must report and block the account to avoid further interaction

References:

CNN Philippines Staff. (2020, April 6). 32 arrested over ‘fake’ COVID-19 news. cnn. https://www.cnnphilippines.com/news/2020/4/6/arrests-over-coronavirus-fake-news.html.

Manila, C. (2020, March 16). Fake News Alert: Bananas, gargling with salt water won’t protect you from COVID-19, Sal. Yahoo! News. https://ph.news.yahoo.com/fake-news-alert-bananas-gargling-064604904.html

Wendling, M. (2018, January 22). The (almost) complete history of ‘fake news’. BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-42724320