For an online digital learner, it is ethically unacceptable to spread fake news.

From my academic learning experience, I believe that it is unacceptable for an online digital learner to spread fake news. Fake news can be a difficulty for even academics to spot, so some fake news can be hard to stop if the person sharing it is not aware that the information they are sharing is fake. Some fake news may even hold some truth to it but not tell the whole truth to bias the readers view towards a particular agenda. Even when trying to prevent the spread of fake news the reader can make it spread further just by interacting with the post.

Hard to spot fake news

How do you prevent the spread of fake news if you can’t even tell what is real or fake? As an academic learner I have been taught what to look out for when it comes to good sources of information, so what happens when even academic can’t tell the difference. An article in the TIMES magazine “how your brain tricks you into believing fake news” by Katy Steinmetz points out some ways into spotting fake news. The interesting thing with this article is that the site it is on does exactly what Steinmetz points out as being not a good source of information. One of the points Steinmetz makes is about sites with auto-playing flashy videos which is the first thing you see on the page. (Steinmetz, 2018) Does this mean that the article is fake news? To determine what is or isn’t fake news, a digital learner needs to investigate where the source of the information is coming from. In a study by Sam Wineburg and Sarah McGrew, they found that even academics can be misled into believing fake news, those who went and looked into the site where the fake news was published were nearly always able to determine fake from real. (Wineburg & McGrew, 2017) Preventing fake news from being spread starts with being able to determine what is fake, as a digital learner that is the hardest part.

Half-truths and full lies

Fake news doesn’t need to be complete lies just not 100% truth; the easiest lie to believe is one based on truth. Often fake news is spread to make readers believe a certain point or vote a certain way.

(the Facebook post has since been deleted)

A Facebook group Australian Youth Coal Coalition posted an image of a park covered in trash, they claimed that Hyde Park in Sydney had been trashed by climate protesters. While the protest and photo are real the whole truth hasn’t been told. The photo was taken of a London park months before the climate protest took place. Many commented that the protestors are a disgrace while few pointed out the falsehood of the image. The post was eventually taken down but goes to shows how easily people were swayed. For a digital learner, the above example should have been an easy one to see as false news. Coal verse climate, there have been many protests over this topic so seeing of coal Facebook page criticize climate protesters should have been easy to spot as a bias post.

Accidental spreading

How do you stop the spread of fake news without accidentally promoting it? Every like, dislike or comment spreads the news. The Facebook algorithm works to show you what those you are connected to like, comment and share. You could be accidentally helping the spread of fake news by commenting on a post that its fake or leaving a dislike. You could always report the post as a violation in the hopes that it will be taken down. Maybe with enough people commenting on the falsehood of the information, it could be enough to stop the spread however it is reliant on a human that may be bias themselves to remove the content.

Final thoughts

While I believe spreading fake is unethical it can be very hard not to. It can be so easy to fall into the trap of believing false information when it has been presented so well that it is made to look like fact. Hiding, bias, half-truths behind the illusion of truth makes determining real from fake a very hard task. Even attempting to stop the spread of fake news can lead to it being spread further.  As an online digital learner staying vigilant and reporting falsehood may be the best way to stop the spread of fake news.

Reference

Steinmetz, K. (2018, August 9). How your brain tricks you into believing fake news. Time https://time.com/5362183/the-real-fake-news-crisis/

Grant, J. W., & Lamberts, R. (2019, September 25). Merchants of misinformation are all over the internet. But the real problem lies with us. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/merchants-of-misinformation-are-all-over-the-internet-but-the-real-problem-lies-with-us-123177

Wineburg, S., & McGrew, S. (2017, October 6) Lateral reading: reading less and learning more when evaluating digital information. SSRN. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3048994