Recently, several of my generally apolitical friends and relatives have been posting political messages on social media. I suppose all that’s been going on in the news recently has piqued their interest. I’ve made quite an effort to keep myself informed, so when I saw them posting or reposting blatantly false information, it bothered me.
A lot of these posts had good intentions; however, some of their sources made impractical feats sound feasible. Many people, for example, started to post about redistribution of wealth, particularly from billionaires or the military, to pay for things like universal health insurance.
And their sources made these seem like easy feats. However, they left out fundamental economic factors. Regarding free health care, it would cost almost $4 trillion a year which the government can only afford for one year even with radical actions like defunding the military. The problem with this thinking isn’t the fault of social media users, rather, it reveals a much larger problem — the unmoderated spread of misinformation online.
In the past few months, social media networks have flagged massive amounts of disinformation that have spread around their platforms. Recent studies by the Pew Research Center have found that close to one-fifth of U.S. adults now get most of their news from social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. These habits have led to a dangerous level of belief in conspiracy theories, whether related to COVID-19, QAnon, election fraud or otherwise.
When getting news from social media, it is vital to fact-check information, especially before reposting. Many social media news outlets have begun to omit sources from their posts. Several major foreign actors, notably Russia and China, have taken advantage of social media as a platform to spread disinformation.
“When getting news from social media, it is vital to fact-check information, especially before reposting.”
There are many potential motives for America’s adversaries to do this, whether it be to weaken trust in the government or to cause deep political division among Americans; in the end, their actions lead to belief in misinformation. For example, during the 2016 election, Russia sponsored the creation of fake Twitter personas to spread misinformation to help Trump’s campaign. These personas, who disguised themselves as Republican voters from key swing states, often replied to Trump’s tweets with propaganda and conspiracy theories, generating engagement and influencing viewers’ opinions.
This sea of misinformation flooding social media has consequences — over 80% of social media users have seen posts claiming that bad actors planned the pandemic, and they are more likely than average to believe in COVID-19-related conspiracy theories and QAnon. On top of this, polls have shown that most social media users don’t fact check information they are reading, which has led to what some have dubbed a “second pandemic” — misinformation.
“over 80% of social media users have seen posts claiming that bad actors planned the pandemic”
The spread of misinformation has led not only to political division and the growth of radical political groups, but also an elevated death toll from the pandemic. False rumors spread online have motivated many to refuse to wear a mask — something they see as a suppression of their freedoms; many have even been led to believe that COVID-19 doesn’t exist and continue to gather en masse where they could infect others with the virus.
“The spread of misinformation has led not only to political division and the growth of radical political groups, but also an elevated death toll from the pandemic.”
Even with this issue of online misinformation, social media companies have been slow to remove posts or even label them as false. The blame for this can partially be placed on Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which prevents internet companies from being held liable for information published by their users. This law, which has long been heralded as the gateway to the internet as we know it, along with pressure from outside groups who claim biased moderation of platform guidelines, has led to slow action from tech companies.
Unfortunately, until the federal government can adamantly mandate that social media platforms properly work to combat misinformation, malicious entities will continue to take advantage of the impressionable and often ignorant minds of American social media users, and false information will continue to spread, dividing the nation and degrading American’s democracy.
