#8 - Misinformation and Fact-Checking

Misinformation on Social Media

In the last few years, misinformation has been an important topic, especially regarding social media. Because everyone has the privilege of posting information online, it is easy for someone to construct a story and share it with the world. All it takes is for one person to share the post for the misinformation to spread. Every day, something will go viral, and then primary news sources and magazines write articles about how a viral post was fact-checked and proved to be "fake news." Political propaganda is usually the main topic of discussion regarding misinformation. You can never fully trust what you see online, so fact-checking is essential to social media viewership. 

Facebook is usually the social media platform put under fire for misinformation. During the 2020 election, 180 million posts were proved to be false between March and November 3rd. It sparks a conversation about the trustworthiness of social media and what needs to be done. More recently, it was discovered that a Facebook-hired firm spread misinformation regarding TikTok trends to generate bad press. A new report written by Taylor Lorenz for the Washington Post shed light on the misinformation, and she also posted a video on their TikTok page. 
@washingtonpost Reply to @sucreesucree @Taylor Lorenz ♬ original sound - We are a newspaper.

The marketing firm Targeted Victory allegedly "strategized ways to spread negative stories on TikTok," according to emails from the company that the Post obtained. According to a director at Targeted Victory: 

"While Meta is the current punching bag, TikTok is the real threat, especially as a foreign-owned app that is #1 in sharing data that young teens are using,”

Although Targeted Victory spread misinformation on TikTok and ran an unethical campaign, there is still truth in the director's statement. Currently, TikTok has approached an issue with TikTok users spreading misinformation regarding the war in Ukraine. The videos spreading misinformation are both pro-Ukraine and Pro-Russia. False claims have been made that the video footage of the war in Ukraine is fake and that the U.S. has bioweapon laboratories in Ukraine. Also, there were claims that Putin was photoshopped into footage of a press conference. According to the Washington Post, the White House hosted a zoom meeting with 30 TikTok influencers asking them to debunk misinformation and communicate about the crisis on the platform. 

Fact-checking is essential to combatting misinformation. For those who don't watch the news, social media becomes their primary source of information. This is dangerous due to the lack of filters and fact-checking before posting. Everyone should take the information shared on social media with a grain of salt before researching the facts. A video posted on the YouTube channel MediaSmarts shares how to fact-check information online: 


Social media users come across misinformation every day. Gaining the ability to notice what is false is essential for the future of information sharing. Although there are apps and algorithms that fact-check information for you, being able to detect fake news yourself is faster. Misinformation will always be a part of social media in the future; however, through fact-checking, individuals can combat phony information and avoid gullibility. 

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