Beware Of False Information Analysis

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George Bernard Shaw once warned people to “Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance”; this quote holds relevance to today’s society of technology and the internet, wherein false information can be commonly found misinforming those that come across it. Misinformation results from this spread of false news, which has the power to influence a large population. Often, misinformation is able to rapidly spread through media before anyone can contest or challenge the reliability of the news. According to a Cornell University blog, “To compete with false information that has gone viral, the truth must also go viral, which is considerably less likely to happen. By the time the truth gets out, something else might already have …show more content…

Political parties are known for adding misinformation into stories, which involves taking the truth and adding in or leaving out specific information to gain support from misinformed citizens. In an article published by Anne Pluta from FiveThirtyEight, Pluta writes on presidential candidate supporters stating, “American citizens with incorrect information can be divided into two groups, the misinformed and the uninformed. The difference between the two is stark. Uninformed citizens don’t have any information at all, while those who are misinformed have information that conflicts with the best evidence and expert opinion… the most misinformed citizens tend to be the most confident in their views and are also the strongest partisans” (Pluta). People who are infected by misinformation hold stronger beliefs towards the misinformation, which bolsters the political parties’ power by misinforming people to believe propaganda created. The quote from the beginning of this paper, “Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance” perfectly matches the tone of the article. In politics, political organizations rely upon the ignorance of people in order to successfully transmit a misinformation epidemic that infects the unknowing citizens into avid political supporters because the misinformation is the only …show more content…

The misinformation spread could be limited through the removal of ads that are displayed on the fake news websites. These websites are “running the same types of ads as large media companies, misleading online publishers have given themselves a familiar look that readers may struggle to differentiate from traditional news sources” (Dave). The advertisements found within a fake news website and a credible one are similar because advertising companies want to increase profits by their ad traffic. The amount of traffic a website receives directly affects the amount of money the website and advertising company earn. Websites which distribute misinformation fabricate interesting stories to attract traffic and increase profits. The advertisement business has gone through increased pressure to clean up the number of fakes news websites that are sponsored with ads, which then reduces the amount misinformation people

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