Often, we get fake news through Social Media – death of celebrity, arrest of famous fugitive, bomb blast, political upheaval, etc.
Fake news is not some modern affliction of little consequences; instead, it means fabricated fiction, deliberately presented as non-fiction with the intent of persuading people to doubt verifiable information.
Tackling fake news – A Time bomb threatening global social order
The scale and pace of fake news’ evolution is deeper than that appears on the surface.
Now is the time (or, is too late?) – the most important measure authorities can take is to force Internet providers and owners of social platforms to share responsibility for the information they carry. It is the consequences of no monitoring of online information (e.g. Facebook). Google, Twitter, or Facebook argue that what appears on their platforms is not their responsibility, that they are merely the carriers of information rather than publishers,
Fake news as a concept, viz. the deliberate circulation of falsehoods – is not, of course, new; spin, lies, and deceit have been around forever.
In revolutionary France of 18th century, or 19th century Europe “Yellow Press”, tabloid newspapers spreading sensationalism. However, today it is different and dangerous – unique combination of social media, computer software, mathematical algorithms and sophisticated advertising methods.
One may say that this is a byproduct of technological change.
Suresh Shah, Pathfinders Enterprise
My thoughts in writing above are inspired by a published article by Jonathan Eyel in Singapore Newspapers