The speed of social media and the sheer volume of user-generated content have made fact-checking more important than ever before. It needs no emphasising that social media can provide instant news faster than traditional news outlets or sources and can be a great wealth of information, but there is also an ever increasing need to verify and determine accuracy of this information. We must remember that fast does not always mean accurate.
There is no denying that identifying credible information on social media is challenging. Rumors and misinformation can spread quickly through social media. Some of the criteria used to evaluate Internet sources, such as being sceptical, asking questions, looking at the quality of the source of information, still apply in social media. The challenges posed by internet platform monopolies require new approaches beyond antitrust enforcement. We must recognise and address these challenges as a threat to public health.
It is important to remember
that fast does not always
mean accurate
The menace of misinformation online has gained considerable media and political attention and plausible solutions for combating misinformation have often been less than satisfactory. In an environment of ubiquitous online social sharing, we contend that it is the individuals that can play a major role in halting the spread of misinformation.
Over the last several years, we not only have gained huge success in ICT sector but also experienced several instances of cybercrimes. We have experienced misuse of social media driven by propaganda and unauthentic information. Moreover, identifying the actual source of wrongful activities remained a challenge for us. Therefore, mechanisms so far used for cyber security should be made more inclusive, and the question of rights and freedom in cyberspace needs to be duly addressed as well.
