Very fake news are constantly making rounds over the internet, but what can companies and individuals do to stop something that's so rampant? Tech companies such as Facebook and Google knows firsthand, what it's like to clean up the mess that stems from illegitimate news.
Despite Facebook's clean-up efforts, very fake news continue to thrive over social media, messaging apps and forum sites. As long as these types of news remain viral, more instances of these will be shared by netizens.
The more very fake news are being spread all over, the harder it is for search engines to get rid of them. According to Fast Company, there are certain measures that tech companies should take in order to combat these types of stories.
For starters, social media sites should not just admit the problem of very fake news, they should also start taking actions in making sure that these won't spread any further. Facebook gave users the option of flagging illegitimate sources, which is a good start.
However, the source mentioned that Facebook is letting the problem linger by funding initiatives revolving around very fake news. In turn, this just helps fake news proliferate even more, by giving people convenience and the tools to do so.
On the other hand, WhatsApp isn't even acknowledging that they have a problem with such news at all. Not determining the problem is what makes very fake news spread further, which is something WhatsApp should take into consideration.
Then again, people can't exactly expect websites and tech companies to remove all the false news by themselves. Majority of the proliferation of very fake news also has a lot to do with the individuals that populate the internet.
According to The Recorder, netizens themselves can make our contribution in making sure that these types of news will no longer spread. One of the important measures in shooting down very fake news, is remembering to always check for multiple sources.
This not only verifies the legitimacy of the news, it also helps identify the credibility of such sites. Another precaution that readers should also look out for is making assumptions over things that are regarded as opinions and not facts.
There's only so much that search engines can do, when it comes to filtering out these very fake news. Readers should also do their part in making sure that non-credible and illegitimate sources will no longer thrive by not spreading these fake news.
