Students face Misleading and False Information Online

Tiktok has been our beloved source of knowledge and entertainment since its debut in 2019 when the company, ByteDance, decided that its former lip syncing app, Musically, wasn't big enough. Today, TikTok is on the rise with 1.69 billion users worldwide, even after the ban scare when politicians threatened to block the app in the U.S. With over one billion users, news, whether it's good or bad, spreads like wildfire almost immediately: crime, weather, politics, or simple makeup company scandals. This does not only apply to TikTok; Instagram, Twitter (X), Facebook, and even Reddit have their own ways of sharing information and news to people of all ages. This has both positive and negative aspects for our society; it offers increased access to information, misinformation, influence on public opinion, and even censorship. 

 We all have our own algorithm. An algorithm is what social media decides to show us for entertainment and what you like. It is based on what and who individuals like and follow; however, an algorithm affects public opinion and knowledge of what people know and don't know. Speaking generally, the news that is shown on social media to someone will look different from the news shown to another, depending on their algorithm. This can cause confusion and quarrels based on people's opinions and how they view the world. Censorship also ties into this issue because, again, all individuals' algorithms are different. The media can choose what they want to show us and when. For example, Twitter and Facebook are banned in certain countries like India and Russia. Nonetheless, these issues are a part of a bigger drawback of reading news online: misinformation. 

Misinformation can happen anywhere, not just the internet. For example, rumors at school aren’t true to the person who made it up; but, everyone else begs to differ. Misinformation makes up much of social media and it is damaging to individuals who believe in allegations spreading on their platforms. In fact, according to npr.org, Fox News is headed for trial again “over the false claims that election tech company Smartmatic sabotaged the reelection of then-President Donald Trump,” a claim which has been debunked. Prior to this lawsuit, in 2023, Fox was sued by Dominion Voting Systems after the news show reported that the Dominion voting machines did not correctly calculate votes. Fox settled that lawsuit for $787 million in a defamation lawsuit. Nonetheless, just because they got caught and sued doesn’t mean that people weren’t confused over the events; many are not even aware that the Fox reports were not true. And it's essential to add that media from all political sides have reported incomplete and false information; it's not just limited to a single party or platform.

To combat this issue of misinformation, we need to look at the facts. Is the source reputable? Who wrote it? What year was it published? Is everyone on board with the issue at hand? However, on social media platforms, there isn’t a link you can go to to fact check yourself. If the person is being truthful, they will most likely provide links and sources to the topic they are posting about to prove that what they are saying is true. Most crucially, people should remain skeptical, rather than cynical. It's important to remain open to new information but be cautious about believing everything you see, hear, or read. If you see a post of a person spreading harmful misinformation about a topic that simply is not true, avoid confrontation and provide a link in the comments speaking generally about the topic and what is true; do not become hostile. Always encourage open source sharing through your own social media page and report harmful misinformation.  

Social media is not all black and white or good and bad. It is a way for people to connect and find connections all around the world. The gray area of social media is that there are plenty of decent people who use their platform for educational and creative purposes. As individuals, we have the ability to fact check and help provoke civic engagement because not everyone is the same, and that's the beauty of the media.