Social and Cultural Issues of Interactive Digital Media

This essay analyzes the concept of fake news and the adverse effects it has on social media platforms. It discusses the challenges faced by users in distinguishing between genuine and fake news, the evolution of fake news over time, and the negative impact it has on individuals and society. The essay also highlights the need for social media platforms to take measures to address this issue.

Running head: INTERACTIVE DIGITAL MEDIA
SOCIAL AND CULTURAL ISSUES OF INTERACTIVE DIGITAL MEDIA
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As opined by Nelson and Taneja (2018), the recent advancements or the
developments in the field of communication technologies had drastically changed or
transformed the manner in which the contemporary individuals communicate or interact with
each other. Brady et al. (2017) are of the viewpoint the changes brought on the developments
in the field of communication and information technologies becomes apparent from the fact
that the individuals rather than relying on the traditional communication measures like letters
and others are increasingly relying on the different platforms of social media like Facebook,
Instagram, Watsapp and others. This in turn had much simplified the communication process
which is being used by the individuals for the purpose of communicating or interacting with
their loved ones. As a matter of fact, the different social media platforms offer the
opportunity to the individuals to interact or communicate with individuals from the different
parts of the world and this in turn had positively affected the lives of the individuals of the
contemporary time (Pennycook, Cannon and Rand 2018). However, at the same time it needs
to be said that one of the most important challenges that the users of the different platforms of
social media commonly face can be ascribed to the aspect of ‘fake news’. In this regard, it
needs to be said that the fake news, are often taken as genuine news by the users of the
different platforms of social medias and in turn gives rise to unnecessary chaos, confusion
and others that adversely affects a substantial number of people (Sowmya and Shankar 2019).
More importantly, it is seen that the fake news, are often being presented in such a manner
that the users are forced to believe them as genuine news and this in turn greatly affects the
credibility of the social media news and also the communication which is being undertaken
by the individuals over there. The purpose of this essay is to analyse the concept of fake news
and also the manner in which the adverse effects posed by the same can be effectively
mitigated.

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Orellana-Rodriguez and Keane (2018) have articulated the viewpoint that one of the
major gratification factors which propel the contemporary individuals to take the help of the
different platforms of social media for the purpose of interaction and communication can be
ascribed to the time factor. For example, in the earlier times it was seen that the letters or the
telegrams sent by the individuals to others would take a substantial amount of time and often
these letters or the telegrams used to get lost in transition as well (Baccarella et al. 2018).
However, with the emergence of the different platforms of social medias the users do not
have to worry about these problems since the message sent by them are being delivered to the
concerned individuals instantly and the chances of the message getting lost is minimal
(Masip, Suau-Martínez and Ruiz-Caballero 2018). Jang and Kim (2018) are of the viewpoint
that another important benefit offered by the usage of the different platforms of social media
is the fact that it is very cost-effective manner in nature and as a matter of fact it is seen that
the majority of the social media platforms do not charge any usage cost from the internet cost
that they need to bear. More importantly, the global presence or the connectivity that these
social media platforms boasts of is another important gratification factor for the users which
enables them to communicate or interact with the individuals from the different parts of the
world.
According to Torres, Gerhart and Negahban (2018), one of the major challenges that
the users of the different social media platforms commonly is the fact that these platforms are
redolent with different kinds of fake news and it is seen that the users find it very difficult to
distinguish the fake news from the genuine news. In this regard, Brummette et al. (2018) are
of the viewpoint that the entity of fake news can be defined as a kind of propaganda or yellow
journalism that entails the spreading of hoaxes or disinformation over the online media
platforms or the traditional media platforms. More importantly, it had been seen that the
reporters often take the help of the practice of ‘checkbox journalism’ for the spreading of

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rumours or for the purpose of misleading the readers or the social media users (Sobbrio
2018). Furthermore, in the present times it had been seen that the unethical practice of
creating as well as spreading fake news had gained popularity over the different social media
platforms because of the inadequate censorship policies followed by them. In this regard, it
needs to be said that the concept of fake news had been in existence for a very long time and
had been used for various purposes however the credit for popularising it belongs to the
present American President Donald Trump when he used the concerned term to refer to the
smearing campaign which was launched against him during his presidential campaign
(Amazeen and Muddiman 2018). The concept under discussion here also received much
popularity from the show “60 Minutes” which was produced by Michael Radutzky, who used
the construct of fake news to refer to the “stories that are probably false, have enormous
traction [popular appeal] in the culture, and are consumed by millions of people” (Lazer et al.
2018). As a matter of fact, the earliest usage of the concept of fake news can be traced back
to the 13th century BCE when Rameses the Great spread fake news regarding the Battle of
Kadesh which claimed to have won by a landslide however in reality he had to retreat from
the battlefield (Gelfert 2018). Moreover, an analysis of the construct of the fake news over
the years reveals the fact at different points of time the concerned concept had been used in
different contexts or sense depending on the age or the purpose for which it was used. As a
matter of fact, in the earlier times it was seen that the machinery of fake news was being used
as a form of satire, a source of entertainment, for spreading rumours, for misleading the
people and others (Shu et al. 2017). In this regard, it needs to be said that the usage of the
concept of fake news within the cannon of the different social platforms are being used for
the attainment of all these purposes.
Lee, Lindsey and Kim (2017) are of the viewpoint that the construct of fake news
especially the kind which is being extensively used over the different social media platforms

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had evolved in a substantial manner over the years. In this regard, it needs to be said that
unlike the earlier times when the construct of fake news was mainly used for satirical
purposes or for the purpose of entertainment in the present times it is seen that the concerned
machinery is being primarily used for the purpose of spreading rumours or for the purpose of
misleading the social media users (Nyilasy 2019). More importantly, it had been seen that
there are different gratification factors for the individuals for spreading the diverse kinds of
fakes news. For example, in some of the cases it is seen that the attainment of some political
purposes drives the individuals to use fake news and in other cases it is the attainment of
different social, cultural and other purposes. However, at the same time it needs to be said
that regardless of the purpose for which the construct of fake news is being used by the
individuals in the majority of the cases it is seen that they have negative or adverse effects for
the different social media users (Quandt et al. 2019).
Allcott and Gentzkow (2017) have articulated the viewpoint that one of the important
adverse effects of the machinery of fake news is the fact that by spreading unnecessary or
uncalled for rumours it greatly affects the individuals both at the individual level and also at
the societal level as well. The major problem arises because of the fact that the fake news, are
being presented over the different social media platforms in such a manner that the users
often find it very difficult to distinguish the genuine news from the fake news. The resultant
effect of this is that the users often end up believing in the fake news, which are being
presented to them at the different social platforms and also act on them and this in turn leads
to the creation of chaos or confusion (Nelson and Taneja 2018). Furthermore, it is often seen
that the social media users often believing in the different kinds of social media platforms
take the help of actions which are detrimental from the interests of the other individuals and
also from the perspective of the society as well (Baccarella et al. 2018). Moreover, the
persistent usage of the tool of fake news in turn had led to the creation of a personal bias

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against the different social media users which in turn had led them to completely disregard
the genuine news that are being posed over the social media platforms as well. In addition to
these, it is seen that because of the popularity as well as the extensive usage of the different
social media platforms by the individuals, the concerned platforms in the present times are
being used by the diverse news agencies for positing important news or information which
the individuals need to know (Orellana-Rodriguez and Keane 2018). However, because of the
widespread usage of the construct of fake news over these platforms the users are presently
completing disregarding all forms of news or information that are posted over these platforms
and thereby fail to act or respond to the kind of news or information which are actually
genuine and important (Sowmya and Shankar 2019). On the score of these, it can be said that
the usage of the construct of fake news had greatly affected the perceived credibility of the
news or the information which are being posted over the social media platforms.
Pennycook, Cannon and Rand (2018) are of the viewpoint that in the face of the ever-
increasing number of fake news which are being posted over the different social media
platforms and the effect that it is having on the individuals as well as the society makes it
important for of the social media platforms themselves to take the help of various measures
for the resolution of the issue. In this regard, it needs to be said that the different social media
platforms like Facebook, Instagram and others have no policies regarding the nature of
content that the users upload over their platforms and once a post or a piece of news is being
uploaded it is automatically being shown to all the individuals who are in the friend list of the
concerned user (Gelfert 2018). It is true that the different social media platforms have
different regulatory guidelines for the nature of the content which is being uploaded by the
users however these media platforms are being able to detect them once the users mark them
as ‘Report’ or through the keyword search that these platforms every-day (Sobbrio 2018).
However, at the same time it needs to be said that by the time these pieces of information or

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fake news are being removed a large number of users have already seen them and taken the
required personal action in response to them. More importantly, it is seen that more often
than not the users end up believing the fake news or the other pieces of information which is
being posted online over these platforms because of the fact that they are often being posted
by their friends or family members whom they actually trust (Jang and Kim 2018). The
resultant effect of this is that the trust that the users have on their friends or family members
makes them believe in the credibility or the accuracy of these fake news and thereby makes
them suspend their disbelief and consider them as true which in turn causes a lot of
unnecessary chaos or confusion (Amazeen and Muddiman 2018). It is precisely here that the
role of the individuals related to the information and communication technology (ICT) and
also the social media platforms becomes important.
The damage caused by the construct of fake news over the years led to the foundation
of the “International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA)” in 1927 in
the nation of Scotland (Brummette et al. 2018). This regulatory body is primarily concerned
with the analysis of the different posts or newsfeeds which are being uploaded or posted by
the users over the different social media platforms and thereby reporting the kind of posts or
newsfeeds which are fake or detrimental for the individuals or the society (Lazer et al. 2018).
Furthermore, it is seen that for the analysis of the different posts or the news this particular
body checks the source of the news, analyses whether it is meant as a satire or not, whether
the language is appropriate or not and others. Another important regulatory body which was
established in the year 2015 for the attainment of the same purpose is “International Fact-
Checking Network (IFCN)” which is primarily concerned with checking the accuracy or the
credibility of the news or the posts which are being uploaded by the users over their online
profiles (Quandt et al. 2019).

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As stated by Brady et al. (2017), it had been seen that the different social media
platforms themselves had developed different coding techniques for the detection of the
various kinds of fake news which are being uploaded by the users. For example, it is seen that
the social media platform, Facebook is presently taking the help of the “n-gram encodings”,
“bag of words” and others for the detection of the different kinds of fake news or posts which
are being uploaded by the users (Nelson and Taneja 2018). As a matter of fact, it had been
seen that the concerned social media platform taking the help of these techniques and also the
concept of linguistics tries to analyse the root meaning or the legitimacy of the different users
and thereby leaves them or removes them on the basis of the results of these analyses
(Sowmya and Shankar 2019). On the other hand, it is seen that the social media platform,
Instagram takes the help of the technique of “visual-based cues” for the analysis of the posts
or the newsfeeds posted by the users (Masip, Suau-Martínez and Ruiz-Caballero 2018). In
this regard, it needs to be said that the concerned social media platform checks the validity or
the legitimacy of the news posted by the users on the basis of the legitimacy of the pictures or
the words that the concerned news piece contains (Orellana-Rodriguez and Keane 2018).
These in short are some of the major strategies which are being used by the major social
media platforms and also the ICT engineers for the analysis of the different news posted by
the users over their social media platforms.
The major design challenge that the different social media companies face related to
the detection as well as the removal of the fake news can be ascribed to the fact that the
majority of these companies are using linguistic analysis, image analysis and other similar
construct for the analysis of the fake news which have failed to deliver the desired results
(Shu et al. 2017). As a matter of fact, it is seen that because of these strategies often it is seen
that the rather than the fake news, the genuine news are being detected which in turn hinders
to effective cascading of relevant news to the concerned individuals (Nyilasy 2019). This

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kind of situation is as dangerous as the situation wherein the individuals start to act on the
basis of the different fake news they receive. On the score of these, it needs to be said that the
different social media companies need to formulate effective design technologies so as to
detect the fake news at the earliest time possible in order to avoid the negative connotations
associated with spread of fake news.
To conclude, the different social media platforms have become one of the most
important wherein fake news are being spread by the users. It is pertinent to note that the
different kinds of fake news or the rumours which are being spread by the users not only
creates unnecessary chaos or confusion but at the same time leads the users to question the
validity or the accuracy of even the genuine news pieces as well. Furthermore, in response to
the ever-increasing number of fake news which are being posted by the users over their
online profiles it had been seen that the different social media companies and also the
international regulatory bodies have taken the help of different kinds of techniques for the
analysis of different news items uploaded or posted by them. However, it is seen that despite
the best initiatives of these companies or regulatory bodies, they have failed to address the
issue of fake news in an effective manner. These aspects of fake news become apparent from
the above analysis of the same.

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