On Wednesday September 5th, Jack Dorsey the CEO of Facebook and Sheryl Sandberg the COO of Twitter testified before the Senate intelligence committee on “Foreign Influence Operations’ Use of Social Media Platforms.” Based on the statement made in the hearing, misinformation in social media, both foreign and domestic, is a huge problem that doesn’t have a simple, quick solution.
Takeaways from Senate Intel social media hearing #4:
1)This thorny problem is not going away & may intensify
2)Regulation is inevitable
3)Solutions require teamwork across gov’t & private sector
4)Google is in trouble
5)Sheryl Sandberg is better at Washington than Jack Dorsey— Olivia Gazis (@Olivia_Gazis) September 5, 2018
There are certain red flags to look for when engaging with information posted on Facebook.
I’ve noticed that in general, links that contain inauthentic content or “fake news” have flashy, and even unbelievable headlines. When reading something that sounds almost too wild to be true, it’s important to think critically about what we are reading. This could even mean looking at other sources to confirm the information you read in a questionable article.
This also reflects the importance of considering the source you are reading stories from. Long trusted news sources, such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, and CNN, are most likely to have the most accurate information.
Can you tell the difference between a real Facebook post and one designed to fool you? https://t.co/7LyEpiBxP0
— The New York Times (@nytimes) September 5, 2018
Unfortunately, as shown in the above interactive New York Times article, fake news is harder to spot than even the most educated citizen might think. Even Facebook has a help page dedicated to recognizing false news. Perhaps the best defense we have for now is to stay skeptical, and think critically about everything we read on Facebook, and on all other social media platforms.