{"id":2078,"date":"2024-10-28T23:19:41","date_gmt":"2024-10-28T23:19:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tymagazine.net\/content\/?p=2078"},"modified":"2024-11-03T23:30:02","modified_gmt":"2024-11-03T23:30:02","slug":"how-fake-sites-affects-forming-peoples-opinion-on-facebook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tymagazine.net\/content\/how-fake-sites-affects-forming-peoples-opinion-on-facebook\/","title":{"rendered":"How fake sites affect forming people\u2019s opinion on Facebook"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Donald Trump\u2019s election in 2016<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the digital age, social media platforms have revolutionized the way we consume news and information. Among these, Facebook stands out as a dominant force, influencing public opinion and even political outcomes. The 2016 U.S. presidential election, which saw Donald Trump emerge victorious, serves as a stark example of how fake news can proliferate on such platforms and impact electoral results. A significant portion of this misinformation originated from an unexpected source: young boys in Macedonia. These enterprising adolescents created numerous fake news sites, generating sensational and misleading content that was widely shared on Facebook. In this article I am going to discuss about problems that fake news sites can provoke, importance of media literacy, explaining some of the popular terms that are important for people to be familiar with, giving the example of U.S.  presidential election in 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFake news<\/a> ran wild during the presidential election \u2014 and even though the contest is over, the gold rush continued for dozens of enterprising teens in a remote Macedonian town. Their main cash cow: president-elect Donald Trump. “Nothing can beat Trump\u2019s supporters when it comes to social media engagement,” said 18-year-old Dimitri, who claims to have made $60,000 in the past six months from the fake news phenomenon\u201d. He is one of many teenagers in the Macedonian town of Veles who became wealthy during the U.S. presidential election by producing fake news for millions on social media. These sensationalist and often baseless articles were posted on Facebook, attracting large numbers of readers and earning the writers\u2019 money through penny-per-click advertising. Dimitri earned at least $60,000 in six months, significantly surpassing his parents’ income and transforming his prospects in a town where the average annual wage is $4,800. He stands out as one of the more successful fake news creators in the area. It’s essential to note that educated and well-informed individuals are more likely to be impervious to video and audio formatted news on Facebook. There isn’t a single solution to this problem, but several measures can be taken to mitigate it, making it less dangerous and impactful on people’s lives. Possible solutions include verifying legitimate news sites, distinguishing credible news sources from unreliable ones, establishing media organizations, and preventing Google and Facebook from allowing such sites to use their ad networks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Clickbait refers to online content designed to attract attention and users to click on a link to a particular webpage. This type of content often uses sensationalized or misleading headlines, intriguing images, or provocative language to generate curiosity and drive attention. While clickbait can increase page views and ad revenue, it is often criticized for prioritizing clicks over the quality or accuracy of the information provided, leading to user frustration and the spread of misinformation. \u201d\u2018Clickbait\u2019<\/a> captures how the manner in which it is packaged or formatted lures one into consumption. When such stories are counted as \u2018fake\u2019, \u2018junk\u2019 or \u2018problematic\u2019, and the scale increases, industrial-style custodial action may be preferred such as mass contention moderation as well as crowd-sourced and automated flagging, followed by platform escalation procedures and outcomes such as suspending or de-platforming stories, videos and sources. As more content is taken down as a result of roomy source classification schemes, debates about freedom of choice may become more frequent and talked about\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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One of the things that is also really meaningful for this topic and type of problems are algorithms. \u201cAlgorithms<\/a> are just a set of rules or instructions that tell a computer what to do. And as it turns out, algorithms aren\u2019t just for computers \u2014 they\u2019re also for social media platforms like Facebook. In fact, the algorithm is one of the most important factors in determining what content you see on Facebook. The algorithm is constantly running in the background, sorting through all the content that\u2019s been shared on Facebook and deciding which pieces are most relevant to you. The algorithm takes into account your past behavior. If you\u2019ve liked or commented on a lot of posts from a certain person or page, then you \u2019re more likely to see more posts from them. Engagement is one of the most important signals that Facebook looks at when deciding what content to show you. If a post is getting a lot of likes, comments, and shares then it\u2019s more likely to appear in your news feed\u201d. This is one of the reasons why it\u2019s so important even for Facebook users and every other social media platform to be educated and at least have a bit knowledge when it comes to media literacy, because as we see it\u2019s far more connected and deeper than we actually think it is. Things that we consume on daily basis creates our internet bubbles .Then things that consumers want to see or hear overloads their pages which in most cases aren\u2019t objective and unconsciously content like that only further convince users that their opinion is the right one whether it is \u201dtrue\u201d or \u201cfalse\u201d. \u201cInternet bubble<\/a> is a term also known as the dot-com bubble, it started raising in popularity in the late 1990s and early 2000s characterized by a rapid rise in the stock prices of internet-based companies. The bubble burst in 2000, leading to a sharp decline in the value of many tech stocks and significant financial losses for investors\u201d. In the social media space internet bubble represents invisible \u201cspace\u201d with content that gathers information about user and based on the content that the one is engaging with it only pushes content similar with the one that the consumer is already familiar with. That disables them to see different point of view, allows them only one way of thinking and most importantly directly affects impossibility of functioning of a democratic society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The impact of fake news on social media, particularly on platforms like Facebook, during the 2016 election has been a subject of extensive analysis and debate. After the election was over, a lot of journalists and opposition media investigated this phenomenon, how Facebook hold such a big power and impact on forming peoples opinion and how this problem can be improved in future.\u201d Analysis<\/a> found that top fake election news stories generated more total engagement on Facebook than top election stories from 19 major news outlets combined. Within the same time period, the 20 best-performing election stories from 19 major news websites generated a total of 7,367,000 shares, reactions, and comments on Facebook. Up until those last three months of the campaign, the top election content from major outlets had easily outpaced that of fake election news on Facebook. Then, as the election drew closer, engagement for fake content on Facebook skyrocketed and surpassed that of the content from major news outlets. Of the 20 top-performing false election stories identified in the analysis, all but three were overtly pro-Donald Trump or anti-Hillary Clinton. Two of the biggest false hits were a story claiming Clinton sold weapons to ISIS and a hoax claiming the pope endorsed Trump, which the site removed after publication of this article\u201d. Of the 20 top-performing false election stories identified in the analysis, all but three were explicitly in favor of Donald Trump or against Hillary Clinton. Among the most popular false stories were claims that Clinton sold weapons to ISIS and that the pope endorsed Trump, the latter of which was removed by the site after this article was published. In 2016, CEO Mark Zuckerberg called the notion that fake news on Facebook influenced the election “a pretty crazy idea.” He later posted that they have begun efforts to allow the community to flag hoaxes and fake news, and there is still more that can be done in this area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The widespread dissemination of misleading information highlighted the vulnerabilities in social media platform\u2019s  ability to control content and underscored the importance of media literacy and fact-checking in the digital age. People<\/a> who are highly educated turn not to trust fake news on social media, either video or audio formats compared to those who are illiterates. Higher educational qualifications people tend to positively influence the spread of fake news on Facebook and other social media platforms, as opposed to people who are less educated or illiterate. Education is a strong predictor of the support of an individual and attitude towards the spread of video and audio formatted fake news compared to other demographic factors like age and the type of gender.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To address the spread of misinformation on Facebook, a multifaceted approach is essential. Implementing robust fact-checking mechanisms and empowering the community to flag false content are crucial steps. Additionally, improving algorithms to detect and limit the reach of fake news can significantly reduce its impact. Equally important is fostering digital literacy among users, ensuring they can critically evaluate the information they encounter. By combining technological solutions with educational initiatives, we can create a more informed public and a healthier online environment, ultimately mitigating the influence of misinformation on social and political discourse.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Donald Trump\u2019s election in 2016 In the digital age, social media platforms have revolutionized the way we consume news and information. Among these, Facebook stands out as a dominant force, influencing public opinion and even political outcomes. The 2016 U.S. presidential election, which saw Donald Trump emerge victorious, serves as a stark example of how… Continue reading How fake sites affect forming people\u2019s opinion on Facebook<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,20,27],"tags":[555,302,304,413,239],"class_list":["post-2078","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-global","category-north-macedonia","category-usa","tag-2016-election","tag-fake-news","tag-media-literacy","tag-misinformation","tag-social-media","entry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tymagazine.net\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2078","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tymagazine.net\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tymagazine.net\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tymagazine.net\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tymagazine.net\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2078"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/tymagazine.net\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2078\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2086,"href":"https:\/\/tymagazine.net\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2078\/revisions\/2086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tymagazine.net\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tymagazine.net\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tymagazine.net\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}