WhatsApp forwards, going from group to group, a message spreads like a forest fire within a single click. Your phone buzzes all day with messages, calls, voice notes, images, and whatnot. You receive notifications ranging from a funny meme to a link leading you to a sketchy site claiming that consuming a kind of fruit can cure cancer or something like how the government is planning to implant microchips in our bodies.
Fake news works by playing with our psychological biases. Research shows that people are more likely to believe and share information that aligns with their beliefs and emotions. This confirmation bias makes spreading fake news easier, as emotionally charged content often gathers more attention. Confirmation bias plays a significant role in how misinformation spreads. Misinformation often spreads within echo chambers—groups where members have similar viewpoints and reinforce each other’s beliefs. For example, consider a false claim about a health remedy that matches someone’s need for a quick fix. Even if the information is presented with evidence disproving the claim, they might dismiss it because it challenges their pre-existing belief.
Most of us tend to believe in all these outlandish claims, especially when we receive them from a trusted source, our very own “Happy Family” WhatsApp group(s). One misinformation hits your family group and the debates start, about whether to believe it or not. But soon these messages are forwarded to other contacts, this domino effect is fueled by the familiarity and frequency with which these messages are shared. And with each forward every contact adds a spice to that information with their twist amplifying the misinformation and making it seem even more credible.
The homemade remedies, claims on the government about policies, or something that involves the public interest can easily influence people and make them believe in it. Staying informed and alert is crucial as we move forward in the digital age. Verifying your facts and the information you receive barely takes a few minutes, the spread of misinformation is like a modern epidemic. Speaking of epidemics, the time of Coronavirus saw a major problem with fake news misleading people and causing chaos in society. According to a study in Sage’s ‘International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions’ journal, by a researcher from the University of Alberta in Canada, regarding social media as the biggest source of misinformation, and COVID being the hot topic of it, India was the biggest source of it.
Misleading information surges when a crisis first appears, people become nervous or frightened, and reliable information is not readily available or cannot be provided. Such misinformation can have potentially serious implications for individuals and the community. We need to understand that believing in a piece of information and forwarding it without checking our facts can lead to disruption and chaos. It might seem small but can create a total mess in people’s lives. Numerous platforms help users to fact-check a piece of information before relying on it. The sites like fact-checker and boom, come in handy for us to verify different kinds of news.
Written by: Yatish Sakhuja
