The creation of the World Wide Web has lead to social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. These platforms allow people to share and post information while connecting and engaging with others. An issue that has followed the emergence of these social media sites is the authenticity of the information shared with its users.

The world is catching up to @timberners_lee who, 10 yrs ago, said biggest threat to a free and universal web was the “lack of authenticity” on web. He was not looking for a newspaper solution but rather an engineering solution. Can @facebook find that solution? https://t.co/qUjBNJINWc

— Alberto Ibarguen (@ibarguen) March 25, 2018

People have become more aware of inauthentic information on Facebook after learning about Cambridge Analytica and its use of data mining Facebook users to influence voting behavior. Furthermore, foreign interference and false news has impacted the authenticity of users and advertisements. Facebook recently announced that foreign entities including Russia and Iran had attempted coordinated efforts to influence political views through its social media. As a result, Facebook is attempting to remove pages, accounts and groups that they deemed to be responsible for this.

Determining what information is authentic on Facebook requires common sense. Knowledge of related information and technical skills to evaluate the source of information is vital in verifying facts. The use of reposts should create some suspicion about its authenticity and the language used in the information may give a hint of whether or not you should believe the post is truthful. To further determine whether or not the information shown is authentic, is to check sources outside of Facebook. Sometimes people feed into information that is false by not understanding the context of what is being addressed.

Hmmm… I mean, it says the post was made by something called "Political Humor." How much spoon-feeding do people need? On the other hand, easy for me to say since you presented it as a fake. Maybe I'd have fallen for it.

— Michael Maiello (@MichaelMaiello) February 12, 2018

An issue with this Facebook post is that the person sharing the tweet should’ve recognized its source and made sure the tweet wasn’t fabricated.

I like how the two tweets have different fonts.

— Max Woolf (@minimaxir) February 12, 2018

In the end, you shouldn’t believe everything you read on Facebook.