Community Contribution #5
Technology has made it extremely difficult to tell the difference between what is real and what could be fake. As of recently, I have seen so many videos, pictures, podcasts, and analysis of the newest tesla. Elon Musk and Tesla have created what looks to be a car that can drive vertically, and be able to somewhat fly in the air and control its own landing. There was apparently a real livestream and viewing of the car being tested but everyone is jumping on this trend with fake videos and posts which make me second guess the real thing.
Wardle and Derakshshan (2017) have broken fake news into three different types; misinformation, disinformation, and mal-information. Misinformation is described as false information shared without the intent of harming others, disinformation is false information that is shared with a purpose to cause harm, and lastly, mal-information is true information that is being used as a harmful tool. They also examine three phases in their framework that could help determine if you are looking at false information or not; creation, production, and distribution.
Using the new Tesla as an example as misinformation, I’ve seen videos of a Tesla driving on the road trying to escape the police, for the Tesla to be able to lose the cops, it started flying and flipping all through the air causing the police to lose sight of it. There were thousands of interactions of people liking it and leaving comments, some who knew it was a joke, and some questioning if it is real or not. The video of the Tesla losing the cops did not strike me as real, but it made me second think if the actual “real” videos are actually real.
When comparing text based fake news to visual content like pictures and videos, Wardle and Derakhshan (2017) mention that visuals are far more believable and can persuade someone to think its true far easier than text based fake news. This is because videos and pictures can have trusted brands, people, and events doing something completely fake. With AI continuing to improve, this issue is only growing harder.
In conclusion, fake news can be anywhere and is shown in so many different ways. Convincing fake videos with the growth of AI is only becoming more and more popular all around social media platforms which continue to weaken peoples trust and belief in public figures and brands. Wardle and Derakhshan’s paper provides information on the different types of false infmoation and how to differentiate misinformation, disinformation, and mal-information. They also provide three ways to distinguish if information is true by looking at the creation, production, and distribution. The Tesla example strengthens the fact that people must be able to source and fact check things they see on social media before immediately believe in everything they see and continue to spread the fake news by sharing the post, and even speaking to friends and family about the new topic you just learned about.
Resources
Wardle, C., & Derakhshan, H. (2017). Information disorder: Toward an interdisciplinary framework for research and policymaking. Council of Europe.