Media, social media, and fake news

 

Media, social media, and fake news have come to play a significant role in influencing election outcomes. This is significant especially when it comes to the way that they handle a diversity of news. Social media, for example, because of the rapid way through which it ensures the sharing of information, has become one of the most popular means of communication, with the result being that unverifiable information can be used to advance different political agendas. Fake news has spread rapidly through social media and because of the trust that individuals have for such information, very little effort is made to verify it.

A consequence is that a substantial part of the population has ended up being influenced by fake news. This is to such an extent that they have come to believe the information that they get either from media or social media, with the result being that it has become common for individuals to vote for causes propagated by fake news (Quandt et al. 2019). The current political divisions in American society have come about because of the propagation of fake news and the considerable influence that it has on society (Allcott and Gentzkow 2017). The realities of the world have essentially become overshadowed by such news and it has allowed for the election of individuals who in previous generations would have been unelectable.

The fake news that is propagated in social media and media in general has allowed for the creation of an alternative view of life that fails to consider the facts. Consequently, the last two elections in the United States have been greatly influenced by the matter of fake news, as seen in the 2016 elections (Gunther et al. 2019), as well as the promotion of efforts aimed at making sure that there is the revelation of such fake news for what it is, as was the case in the 2020 elections. Therefore, candidates seeking political office have ended up taking advantage of fake news as a means of enhancing their advantage over their opponents.