Since last week’s sickening attack in Southport, social media has, unsurprisingly, been awash with ‘facts’ about the alleged attackers identity, race, religion and motivation as people try to make sense of the horrific murder of three little girls.
Unfortunately almost all of these ‘facts’ have been totally and utterly false.
But such is the power of Facebook, X, Tiktok and a host of other platforms, used by billions daily, those lies have spread like wildfire.
And because those hugely influential social channels are barely regulated and take next to no responsibility for the content they publish, the fact the information is completely incorrect doesn’t matter one bit.
In fact, because social media algorithms reward extreme views that reinforce people’s prejudices and fears, fake news is actually rewarded.
That is a terrifying thought. The more extreme the information, the further it will spread, irrespective of whether there is a grain of truth to it.
Not only that, because the algorithms are so sophisticated and highly attuned, they know exactly how to keep you scrolling, by serving you with more and more content that reinforces your beliefs.
So before long, all you are seeing is the same news and the same extreme commentators with no counter-balance or alternative view point, creating a dangerous echo chamber.
At that point it’s hardly surprising people become convinced that social media reality is actual reality.
Just remember social media algorithms are designed for one reason and one reason only, to keep you there. If that’s with fake news, so be it.
Truth is ultimately irrelevant when it comes to social media. The bosses don’t care and take no responsibility. When they are printing money, with no fear of reprisals, why would they?
Just imagine for a second if a regulated newspaper, website, TV or radio station published some of the dangerous lies and propaganda that has been swirling around social media over the last week.
We would be sanctioned by regulators, pilloried by the rest of the traditional media and boycotted by advertisers. We would be finished. And rightly so.
Everyday journalists up and down the country come into work aiming to source information, fact check it, ensure its accuracy and then publish it.
Whatever your newspaper or website of choice, if it’s professional and regulated by IPSO, you know that every effort will have been made to verify the accuracy of the information published. We are journalists and our job is to bring you the news.
If we get something wrong, we are held accountable, which is how it should be.
There are people out there trying to convince you the ‘MSM’ is the enemy and that they are the source of ‘real truth’.
They are lying, but social media has given them the perfect platform to spread those lies far and wide.
