Investigation into False News

A committee of UK MPs is about to publish a report following their investigation into so called Fake News.

The Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Committee has been investigating the problem and its effects on UK public life ever since the scandal broke around Cambridge Analytica’s use of personal data collected via Facebook.

Photo by Kayla Velasquez on Unsplash

In a nutshell, the report recommends that social media companies should be subject to increased regulation aimed at minimising the amount of false information that is being fed to users of social media with the deliberate intention of changing their behaviour.

Of course, trying to affect people’s behaviour is nothing new.  For many decades, it has been the objective of publicity companies to influence people’s buying habits via billboards, printed media, TV, radio and other channels.  However, all such activity is subject to regulation aimed at ensuring information that is used in adverts is accurate and fair.

Social media, on the other hand appears to operate with very little if any regulation and consequently people are reading stories that purport to be true and factual but which are pure fabrication intended to trick people into believing lies.

Age Old Problem

In the bible, we read the story of Jesus Christ on trial before Pontius Pilate, which eventually led to Jesus being crucified.

Such were the confusing and conflicting accusations being made against Jesus, that Pontius Pilate simply didn’t know who to believe.  None of the evidence being presented could justify anyone being executed so that in the end, Pontius Pilate called for a bowl of water to be brought and he literally washed his hands of the whole affair.

However, during the trial, Pontius Pilate asked the question, “What is truth?” – a very simple question but in that context one that highlights the problem with all of human behaviour, communication and relationships.

It seems that people have always been prepared to peddle all kinds of truth, half truth and downright lies in order to get get their own way.

We Are All Responsible

It may be tempting to lay all the blame at the feet of those who have created Social Media organisations, although they are claiming that they are merely a platform for sharing ideas and opinions.  They would lay blame at those who produce and publish the content.

However, everyone who uses Social Media must also share some of the responsibility for consuming so much information (truthful as well as fake) without taking the trouble to check out its veracity.  In addition, we each have a tendency to read and believe anything that supports our own personal views.  It is for this reason that the people who peddle false news target those whose profile suggests will be most receptive.

In the bible, the apostle Paul was advising his friend Timothy and saying:

“The time will come when men will not put up with sound teaching. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.”  (2Ti 4:3-4)

That’s quite perceptive for someone who lived 2000 years before today’s social media existed.  On the other hand, perhaps it is simply that lying as a way of getting what we want has always been with us and social media is merely the latest machanism that helps us to lie.

Can it be Different?

We cannot say what difference, if any, will result from the investigation and report from The Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee and we may feel as individuals that we cannot do much to change the situation either.

There is a story of two men walking along a beach that was covered with stranded starfish.  One man picked up a starfish that was still alive and threw it back into the water.  His companion commented that his action didn’t do much to help the mass of stranded starfish, but the first man’s response was, “perhaps not, but it made a big difference to the one I threw back”.

Perhaps we cannot do much to change the world in which we live, but we have it in our power to dramatically change our own behaviour – to ensure we only ever share what we know is factually correct and to check out any stories we read before acting upon them or passing them on to others.