Catchy headline, famous, powerful people, popular themes, sensational story – excited to read further? Cashing in on exactly this interest from readers to read and want to share a story, a lot of anonymously-hosted websites have emerged around the world. Fake news websites, as they have come to be known, are spreading more than rumours and misleading people and press. Facebook announced stricter measures this August, to identify a fake news to control its sharing and spread through social media. It has created a software algorithm to flag stories that may be suspicious and send them to fact checkers.
Source: International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions
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With the expansion of technology and social media, media especially digital media is under tremendous pressure to attract viewers to please advertisers. In pursuit to survive and stay in business, these small and big business are resorting to this desperate method.
Innocent people, without questioning the authenticity of the source, share with friends and in a way help in spreading misleading, sensational information. International Federation of Library Associations has issued a hand infographic on how to spot fake news. Show it to your children and talk this possibility with them – of a share going viral being actually fake. |