Internet breeding ground for fake sites
THE Internet – a breeding ground for radical ideologies and bizarre conspiracy theories – can quickly move troubled souls to violence. And in an age when fake news is magnified by those with political and financial interests, the problem is getting harder to stop, the Washington Post said this week.
Media Monitoring Africa agreed, saying fake websites in South Africa were becoming a serious and tricky problem.
“It has become difficult for readers to differentiate between what’s legitimate and what’s fake. All we can advise is for people to think before they click. If you see a sensational story on social media, first check if it has been reported on a reputable news website before you click the share button,” said Media Monitoring’s William Bird.
He said another way to identify a fake website or story would be to look at the URL (address of a World Wide Web page).
“Sometimes the name of the fake news site will give you a hint as to whether it is real or not. Most fake websites try to make their pages look as believable as possible and play on the names of existing websites.
“It is also important to check who is quoted in stories. Most fake websites use unnamed sources.”
This was the case in September when a fake news site claimed Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu had died, said Bird.
At the time the South African National Editors’ Forum (Sanef) said it noticed an alarming trend of fake news websites publishing inaccurate information under the guise of news.
Around the same time, there were also reports that Thabo Mbeki had died.
Sanef said inaccurate reports by websites masquerading as credible news sources were dangerous and did a great disservice to legitimate news websites and the media industry.
This week Pope Francis warned against the danger of spreading false information and half truths under the guise of news. In an interview with a Belgian Catholic publication he said to create scandal was like “having an obsession with faeces”.
The pope said the legitimate media had a “great responsibility” not to spread disinformation.
The Washington Post said the condemnation of these sites came as politicians, the media and technology industries have become worried that fake news and propaganda on social media could have unduly influenced the US presidential election.
Joseph Uscinski, an associate professor at the University of Miami and a co-author of American Conspiracy Theories, said research showed “people who have a very conspiratorial mindset tended to be more accepting of violence than people who didn’t have a conspiratorial mindset, but it’s not by much.”
Fake news and conspiracy theories have other pernicious effects, the newspaper said. The Russian government, for example, reportedly tried to spread false materials online to affect the US election. FBI boss James Comey was quoted saying he was concerned that Twitter in particular allowed people to reinforce their own views, irrespective of facts, and that this eroded trust in government institutions.
“It used to be that the person who’s now on Twitter would be down at the end of the bar late at night shouting at the television, and the only people he could shout with would be the other people who were down at the end of the bar.
Now he can shout with 600 other people who are at their own metaphorical bars, and it’s a constant reinforcement of their view of the world.” – The Washington Post