Every era comes with a struggle of its own and for this internet-booming era, it is misinformation. We are way past the phase of using defense means or posters to instigate people regarding a particular issue. Our battle now happens on the internet.
With the ongoing pandemic, cybercriminals are lurking everywhere putting security systems to a test. Apart from this, a lot of fake news has been going around on social media channels which is scary because there is no easy way to differentiate it from real news.
To take this into account, Facebook has sent out warnings to close to 40 million posts that give information about COVID-19. Their own team of fact-checkers have gone through 4000 articles to issue these warnings. The company said that 95% of people stopped clicking on fake news links once they saw the warning label.
The company has already removed misinformation that is of violent nature and would have a chance of creating physical harm in society. Facebook has more than 2 billion active users on its platform and hence, taking such stringent measures was important.
Read: Coronavirus-hit Kerala unveils anti fake news division to keep rumour-mongers at bay
After the virus was declared a pandemic, the social media giant began fact-checking since March in collaboration with fact-checking organisations to review the content in multiple languages. Soon, the company will also warn users if they have liked or shared any post that is giving out harmful misinformation.
Impact of Facebook on people
As much as we would like to believe that people would only head to a news channel for information on what is going on, it is not true. People spend most of their time on social media which is compensating for their physical social interactions at the moment.
Having a piece of news on your Facebook feed is easier than looking out for information. You can easily share it with your friends and family immediately. Hence, people turn to Facebook for news and even news organizations are quick to post updates on their Facebook pages as well.
With so much information being shared so quickly, the piece of news very easily becomes a sensation. And, with so many people responding to it, the news piece automatically becomes validated and falsely considered credible.
Read: What exactly are Deepfakes and how do they work?
Why was a warning important?
While the world concentrates on the ‘pandemic’ news, not many are realising the creeping of an infodemic that is coming our way. Since everyone is confined to their homes, there is an uptick in the time spent online. Most of this time can be attributed to news stories related to the pandemic because who wouldn’t be worried about their life? Moreover, people are hoping to understand when things will begin to get normal.
Facebook usage has boosted tremendously since the world retreated into their homes and hence, they hold a lot of responsibility for the content shared on their platform. This is where the infodemic comes in- a lot of new content is also being churned out during this pandemic causing an infodemic.
The thing with social media is its reach. One post will easily reach lakhs of people who are on the platform. That one piece of misinformation could have disastrous outcomes. People act on what they have read and take action. If the misinformation passed along invokes hatred or fear, it could even lead to a person putting his own life in danger. Not just this, it also mentally tires out and stresses an individual since they are bombarded with such content.
The pandemic has led to people reading a lot online and discussing it extensively. So, why was this warning needed? Because the safety and sanity of people is at stake.