Fascinating and fake?

By Anna V.

 

Misinformation and disinformation were some of the topics of the readings for this week.  This got me thinking about why stories that are untrue seem to be so prevalent and spread so quickly. Anyone who has observed how quickly rumors travel in real life can attest to this, and it’s difficult to know just what to believe. This article from The Ohio State delves into why people might mistake fake news for a legitimate news story. If you think things spread quickly from person to person in conversation, social media is even faster.  A study from MIT looks further into why misinformation travels so fast here. The American Psychological Association examines why these stories get shared between media users in this article. When it is time to look more closely at the news, Rutgers University Libraries offers some guidance.

Comments

  1. Ellen DooleyOctober 17, 2023 at 8:02 PM

    Wow! some scary statistics. Interesting to see the statistics in the APA piece regarding the small number of people who can amplify misinformation "While fake news may seem prolific, prior research has found that fake news only accounts for 0.15% of Americans’ daily media consumption, and 1% of individuals are responsible for 80% of fake news sharing. Other research found that election-related misinformation on Twitter decreased by 73% after Donald Trump was banned from the platform." It is similar to the situation in the Twitter/X realm that I blogged about: one person, who unfortunately is in charge, is setting the tone and spreading misinformation.

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