Misinformation and The Media

By Kate Bevins

Many Americans form opinions and beliefs manipulated by the content they see on social media. But what does this mean when the information they are receiving is biased or completely incorrect? Social media has led to an explosion of misinformation on health, breaking news and, in extreme cases, the spread of viral conspiracy theories, offensive and extremist content. Social media is playing a significant role in fueling the division that is destroying our nation. As America continues down a radical spiral of hatred and division, social media companies need to begin taking action and making changes within their sites, changing a system that rewards hatred and misinformation. 

To understand how social media plays a part in fueling extremism, it is important to first understand how social media algorithms work. Social media allows a unique way for regular people with no certifications to spread their ideas to a wide audience with just a click of a button. Social media companies always have and always will prioritize engagement and profit over stopping the spread of fake news, and often conspiracy theories and fake news are the type of entertaining content that will be met with lots of views, likes, and shares. This may be because seeing false information invokes much stronger emotions and opinions than a simple fact would. People who constantly use social media are used to the amount of misinformation on social media and are even more likely to be spreading this misinformation.  A study by University of Southern California found that habitual social media users were six times more likely to forward fake news then new users. This is a problem because the more people use social media and interact with this misinformation, the less likely people are to use critical thinking and come to their own conclusions about the truth.

Social media search engines are capable of creating extremists. How is this possible? These companies feed users with content they have searched for in the past. For example. If someone is suggested conspiracy theory content and they interact with it, they will be swarmed with similar conspiracy content and groups with like-minded people. The social media company will try to bring them down a rabbit hole of misinformation to keep them scrolling and interacting. Though Facebook claims to have rules against spreading hate and misinformation, that does not seem to stop users from being met with suggestions of offensive posts, or to join extremist communities. Social media companies, desperate for users' attention, purposely attempt to polarize users by surrounding them with like-minded people. These companies make it easy to find extremist content by auto filling searches, and recommending similar extremist content once clicked on a few times. 

Another way social media has played such a huge role in extremism is extremist themselves. Extremist organizations can use social media as a tool to spread extremist propaganda, reach out to other extremists, and of all social media platforms, “Facebook was also the platform most used by extremists in the PIRUS dataset. Nearly two-thirds of extremists (64.53%) used Facebook for radicalization or mobilization between 2005 and 2016” (“The Use of Social Media by United States Extremists”) Facebook is an easy way to find people with similar interests. This is great, until extremists are easily able to prey on people who are likely to gain extremist ideas. Being in groups with other extremists is how extremists share ideas, spread hatefulness and plan events.

 Social media companies' exploitive business model is contributing to the already rising levels of extremism and polarization in America. These companies need to improve transparency with their users and prioritize filtering out offensive content, or content that spreads misinformation. America is in danger, and staying aware of misinformation in the media is one way to stay educated and make a difference. 

Sources:

Social media, extremism, and radicalization - PMC

Why Misinformation Goes Viral | Psychology Today

Study reveals key reason why fake news spreads on social media