Fake It'til You Break It

Fake news and social media responsibility.

- Alexander Villafania

“Trump to give $5B in aid to PH military”

“Pres. Duterte admits fentanyl addiction”

If you’re to be asked if any of the three headlines above are real, which one do you think isn’t?

You might believe that President Rodrigo Duterte is addicted to the pain medication fentanyl, if you already heard him say he’s using it. You might also think that U.S. President Donald Trump is really throwing out billions to finance the Armed Forces of the Philippines. Or you might think that Pres. Duterte is right in telling Filipino soldiers standing guard over small patches of land in a disputed sea to come home and leave their garrisons unguarded for some other country to take over.

If you do, then you’ve fallen victim to fake news.

And why not? The titles seem legitimate, and if you read them on Facebook or Twitter, they might have come with seemingly professionally shot photos. There are already thousands of fake news coming out lately and the trend would most likely grow due in part to the encouragement of fanatics of “alternative facts” and “post-truth” believers.

FAKE NEWS AND PROPAGANDA

British newspaper The Guardian describes fake news as “completely made up, manipulated to resemble credible journalism and attract maximum attention and, with it, advertising revenue.” They are not easy to spot as they are well-written pieces of articles. Many of these appear in a variety of platforms, most notably online and on social media platforms where they can be shared faster.

On the off chance that a person goes to the website of the said fake news article, they’ll be treated to near-professionally created websites. Unless a person is very familiar with designs of existing news websites, he or she would have a very hard time determining if what they’re reading is real or not.