New Social Media and Impact of Fake News on Society

Abstract

Traditional media consists of mostly nameless and faceless people deciding what does and does not get printed and broadcasted. In this new era of internet and variety of social media, creation and consumption of news and information in our society is changing. Rapid transformation of traditional print media into online portals has become a new trend. On the one hand, the online social media has democratized the means of news production and dissemination, but on the other hand, it has become a breeding ground for false and fake news. Increasing use of mobile devices and easy Wi-Fi access to 3G/4G networks, the Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter have turned into powerful platforms for providing news and entertainment. In the USA and India, the President and the Prime Minister are using Twitter to engage with their voters and supporters. Hence the direct interaction of politicians and policy makers with the people using social media is having a strong impact on the functioning of the governments around the world. As a consequence, the online journalism and citizen media is also on the rise. New channels of online communication, such Skype, WhatsApp, Messenger, LINE and many others have also led to rampant increase in the spreading of fake news. This paper uses the traditional empirical-analytical method to analyze the current issues about fake news. Information and data available on reliable public domain websites, such as, FactCheck.Org and others portals are used for formulating research questions. In addition, analysis of issues related to fake news is largely based on data available on various reliable and independent organizations, such as Pew Research Center (USA), Reuters (UK) and European Commission (EC). Author’s own survey conducted in an Executive MBA class conducted in Hanoi, Vietnam is also be utilized. The results from primary and secondary resources are used to highlight cases of fake news on the social media and provide technical guidelines to detect its negative impact on society.