Fake news: belief in post-truth

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to illustrate that the current efforts to combat the epidemic of fake news – compiling lists of fake news sites, flagging stories as having been disputed as “fake,” downloading plug-ins to detect fake news – show a fundamental misunderstanding of the issue. Design/methodology/approach This paper explores the plummeting believability ratings in conventional news outlets, as well as current efforts to combat fake news. These concepts are situated in the post-truth era, in which news is upsold on the notion of belief and opinion. Findings This paper finds that, in combination with a general mistrust of all news, a fundamental flaw in the system of clicks-as-reward allows fake news and other clickbait to gain unobstructed virality. Originality/value Fake news is a widely discussed topic right now. As this is primarily an issue of information literacy, library and information professionals need to understand, discuss, and address this issue as one that is directly related to the profession.

A Systematic Review on Fake News Themes Reported in Literature

“…Social media users tend to share information without verifying the source or the reliability of the content [2]. Information found on social media platforms, like Twitter, are sometimes not even read before they are being spread among users, without any investigation into the source of the information [16]. As mentioned earlier in Sect.…”

“…Social media users generate interactions on social media platforms to gain "followers" and to get "likes" which lead to an increasing amount of fake news websites and accounts [10]. One of the biggest problems faced in the fake news dilemma, is that social media users' newsfeed on social media platforms, like Facebook, will generally be populated with the user's likes and beliefs, providing a breeding ground for users with like-minded beliefs to spread false information among each other [16]. Social media users like to pursue information from other members in their social media environment whose beliefs and opinions are most compatible with their own [21].…”

“…It is also referred to as the "bandwagon effect" where individuals blindly concentrate on certain information based on perceived trends [32]. The only thing that matters is that the information falls in line with what the social media user wants to hear and believe [16]. Many studies also refer to it as the "filter bubble effect" where social media users use social media platforms to suggest or convince other social media users of their cause [33].…”

“…These false websites are designed to look like the real website but in essence only contain false information. Social media users tend to share information containing a provocative headline, without investigating the facts and sources [16]. The absence of fact-checking by social media users on social media platforms, increases the spreading of false information [2].…”

“…Political Clickbaits. Clickbaits are defined as sources that provide information but use misleading and sensational headiness to attract individuals [16]. In the 2016 US presidential elections it was apparent that clickbaits were used to shape peoples' opinions [4].…”