Social News, Believe it or not

With a pervasive development in social media platforms, they have transformed from being a mere tool for social interaction, to becoming a platform for a freedom of expression – posing new threats to users, businesses and also regulators.

As social media platforms, they share a common feature which allows users to communicate and share content interactively on the Internet.  Take Facebook as a successful example, the platform encourages like-minded individuals to "like, share and comment" so that users can interact freely with one another. 

As a result, there is an upward rise in legal issues and risks associated with social media platforms. For instance, claims in respect of copyrights and intellectual property infringements, defamation and harassment will continue to surge given the high degree of use of media and social interaction.

Over the recent years, fake news has been one of the most popular debated socio-political issues. "Fake news" is a term to describe news, stories or hoaxes created to purposely misinform or deceive readers. Research has shown that more than 70% of Singaporeans experienced fake news online which reminded us that the things you read in your social media feeds may appear to be true, often is not. 

Why would people create fake news?

With the increased number of users getting daily news from social media, many publishers have used this to their advantage. Fake news could be a profitable business; the more clicks a story gets, the more revenue they make through advertising. Thus, publishers find that social media is an ideal platform to share interesting content and drive web traffic.

A deep dive into Facebook shows that false news was shared more often than true news was. This resulted in numerous outsiders' criticism of Facebook which drastically affect their  credibility and reputation. To counter these criticism, the Facebook CEO "Mark Zuckerberg" have announced new measures to tackle fake news with the introduction of reporting and flagging tools. 

In conclusion, the vast amount of information available online highlights the need for critical thinking. Users on the other hand should also take responsibility in evaluating whether the news is real or not. 

To sum up, here are the 3 additional tips on how to spot fake news: 

1. Vet the publishers' credibility 
2. Pay extra attention to quality and timeliness 
3. Check the sources and citations 

Do let me know what you think with your comment down below, thank you! :D