Opinion | Social media sites need to monitor fake news – UI The Daily Iowan

Social media sites should be fact checking and removing false information because fake news is dangerous.

Since Trumpwas bannedfrom nearly every social-media site, theres more conversation about whether such platforms should have consequences for people including people in the Hawkeye State who spread false, misleading, or harmful information.Social media needsto have fact checkers, and peopleshould besuspended when necessary.

Social media is an easy place to spread any information, including false, misleading, and harmful information. Sites have a responsibility tomonitorand stop the spread of fake news.

Many sites, such as Twitter, already have fact checkers that check viral tweets. If they are false, there is a tag on them that can lead people to true information.Some people such as Iowa House of Representatives member Sandy Salmon view sites marking false information as unnecessary censorship.

Many times, I have assumed a factoid circling a social media platformto betrue, buta notation fromTwitter or Facebook let me know it was not. Because of this, I did not spread the information to anyone else, which may have harmed others.

Fake news no, not CNN is more serious than many may think because it has caused multiple cases of violence.

Conspiracy theories that the 2020 presidential election was fraudulent ran rampant on social media andare citedas one of theprimary causesof the insurrection at the U.S.capitol.

It is important that we alltry andstop the spread of such informationin order tostop future acts of violence, but the main responsibility falls on those in charge of social media sites.

Social media sites alsohave the optionof suspending or permanently banning people or organizations that often spread false information.

This is what Americans saw with Donald Trump. After Twitter banned Trump and other accounts prone to misinformation, the fake news spread on social media went down by73 percent. Though this decision made a lot of people upset, it was ultimately for the better.

Social media sites should all add to their terms and conditions that false and harmful information cannot be spread on their platform. This way if someone is knowingly and repeatedly doing this, theycan beremoved from the platform.

Of course, everyone has a personal responsibility totry andweed out fake news. However, the truth is that most people cannot.

A Stanford study found thattwo-thirds of college studentswere unable to discern real information from fake news.

Apps likeTikTokarent as rigorous with fact-checking information. This is especiallyconcerningfor college students, because theaverageTikTokuser is between the ages of 16-24.

This means that if weare fedfake news, there is nothing present to tell us it is wrong. Sincethe majority ofcollege students cannot decipher between real and fake news, this has harmful potential.

TikTokcan add fact checkers thatmonitorvideos gaining attention. This would not end fake news all together, but it would slow the spread.

In order to stop fake and harmful news from spreading rapidly, social media sites need tomonitorthe information being shared more closely. If not, social media will only become a more dangerous place.

Columns reflect the opinions of the authors and are not necessarily those of the Editorial Board, The Daily Iowan, or other organizations in which the author may be involved.

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Opinion | Social media sites need to monitor fake news - UI The Daily Iowan