How to combat the spread of misinformation and disinformation online

Courtesy of Project Looksharp (https://projectlooksharp.org/our-approach.php#handouts)

Fake news has been a crucial and ever present topic of discussion over the past few years. In Anthony Adornato's book, he defines fake news as the deliberate distortion of fact and spreading of information under the title of news that is known to be false, fabricated or taken out of context in order to alter public opinion. Largely, I would agree with this definition of fake news but there is one area where I think Adornato falls short. I would add a clause to this definition that notes fake news is either the deliberate spread of information you know is false OR information that the reporter/sharer did not do their due diligence to fact check. While it is extremely problematic to knowingly spread false information under the headline of news, I would argue it is similarly bad to take something at face value and continue to spread that news without verifying it — especially as a journalist. Journalists have a responsibility to fact check and stand by the information they are sharing because news can and does impact the daily lives of real people. I would also tend — as Adornato notes — to err on the side of using the terms misinformation and disinformation over fake news.

I think the biggest thing we as a society and as journalists can do to combat fake news is to teach and promote widespread media literacy. For people of any age it is important to understand that people can and do create and promote false information on the internet and there are some ways to identify that. The biggest thing I think people can do, and Adornato does point this out, is simply slow down when using the internet. I am guilty of this as well, but when something promotes a visceral reaction it is easy to immediately hit share or repost without thinking twice about the content. This is also a very good way to spread misinformation. If we can condition ourselves to simply take a few moments to review the information and try to verify its accuracy, I think significantly less inaccurate and misleading content would be shared online.

In terms of the responsibility of tech companies, I think allowing users to flag false information for reviewing and using some kind of technology or partnership to review information are both important initiatives. However, I don’t think it will ever be possible for tech companies to regulate all of the content produced on their platforms.