Dear Santa: A (Tech) Wish List

Tech Wish List

- Mark Isaiah David

Dear Santa,

I know I can’t count myself among “the youth” anymore, but then again, compared to you, everyone else is a child. And I’m sure I fall under the Nice List this year—I’m so confident of this, you can even ask my wife about it. And just in case you still need convincing, don’t worry. My wishes aren’t as pedestrian as to ask for gadgets. This is for the good of mankind.

So, you ready, Santa? Here’s my (tech) wish list for 2019:

Burn fake news to the ground

Individually, we are all responsible for the things we share on our accounts. But the bulk of the accountability falls on the social media giants themselves. Imagine if every time you post something fake, there will be a no-nonsense, easily distinguishable, loud tag that indicates its deceitful nature. Imagine if this is implemented across the giants—Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and whatever new platform gains ground. People can still share what they want (we won’t be infringing on their right to speech), but every duplicitous post should come with a notice that the contents of the post have no basis in reality.

Don’t tell me it’s impossible. Fake news tends to gain virality so it’s easy to pick up what’s getting traction out there. It doesn’t even need to be instantaneous. Posts can retroactively get that “FAKE” tag so that the people who honestly thought they were sharing responsibly will be corrected. This is for the easily duped, not the evil ones who purposely peddle lies.