Analyse why fake news on social media travels faster than the truth. What could be a possible way to reduce such rapid spread?
Refer – The Hindu
IAS Parliament 8 years
KEY POINTS
· False news spreads “farther, faster, deeper, and more widely” than true news.
· This difference was not due to bots and automatons, but to the efforts of humans.
· Many more people share and retweet false news than truth.
Reasons for such rapid spread
· The key reasons behind this are the emotions inspired by the two types of news.
· False news inspired surprise and disgust, whereas truth caused sadness, anticipation, joy and trust.
· Evidently, the former set is more powerful.
Solution
· Establishing fact-checking sites and spreading awareness among people not to get taken in by “novelty” value when sharing stories could be the key to reducing the spread of such false news.
· Common sense of not accepting everything, written online as a truth is the immediate necessity.
· A positive approach of posting the real information about the fake news would curtail the spread of such news in future.
· Integration of scientific community with the government to find innovative ways to identify and curtail fake news and its spread.
