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Fake News and Disinformation

Cognitive biases like confirmation bias make it difficult to change someone's beliefs even when presented with contradictory facts. Confirmation bias motivates us to seek information confirming our existing beliefs and ignore facts threatening those beliefs. When confronted with facts contradicting their beliefs, the emotional parts of people's brains become more active while the reasoning parts become less active.

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Antoinette Muñoz
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102 views5 pages

Fake News and Disinformation

Cognitive biases like confirmation bias make it difficult to change someone's beliefs even when presented with contradictory facts. Confirmation bias motivates us to seek information confirming our existing beliefs and ignore facts threatening those beliefs. When confronted with facts contradicting their beliefs, the emotional parts of people's brains become more active while the reasoning parts become less active.

Uploaded by

Antoinette Muñoz
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Why Do Our Brains Love Fake News?

Ever have an argument with someone, and no matter how many facts you
provide, you just can’t get that person to see it your way? One big reason for this
is cognitive bias, which is a limitation in our thinking that can cause flaws in our
judgement. Confirmation bias is a specific type of cognitive bias that motivates us
to seek out information we already believe and ignore or minimize facts that
threaten what we believe.
So how can you overcome confirmation bias? It’s tricky, because brain research
shows that once a person believes something, facts don’t do a very good job
changing their mind. Studies show that when people are presented with facts that
contradict what they believe, the parts of the brain that control reason and
rationality go inactive. But, the parts of the brain that process emotion light up.

Term Definition

misinformation “false information that is spread, regardless of whether


there is intent to mislead.”

disinformation “deliberately misleading or biased information; manipulated


narrative or facts; propaganda.”

fake news  "purposefully crafted, sensational, emotionally charged,


misleading or totally fabricated information that mimics the
form of mainstream news" 

What is "Fake News"?

The issue of “fake news” has been a dominant theme in the headlines for several years.
How do we define a term that has come to mean so many different things to different
people?
At its core, we are defining “fake news” as those news stories that are false: the
story itself is fabricated, with no verifiable facts, sources, or quotes. Sometimes
these stories may be propaganda that is intentionally designed to mislead the reader or
may be designed as “clickbait” written for economic incentives (the writer profits on the
number of people who click on the story).
“Clickbait” refers to a headline or the leading words of a social media post (the teaser message)
written to attract attention and encourage visitors to click a target link to a longer story on a web
page. Clickbait offers odd, amazing, or suspenseful phrases that induce curiosity, and entice
people to want to know more. Like this:

Clickbait is a common way that fake news (and any kind of content) is spread. Clickbait depends
on creating a “curiosity gap,” an online cliffhanger of sorts that poses headlines that pique your
curiosity and lead you to click the link and read on.  The gap between what we know and what we
want to know compels us to click.

However, it’s important to acknowledge that “fake news” is a complex and nuanced
problem, one that is far greater than the narrow definition above. The term has
become politicized and is widely used to discredit any opposing viewpoint. Some people
use it to cast doubt on their opponents, controversial issues, or the credibility of some
media organizations. In addition, technological advances such as the advent of social
media enable fake news stories to proliferate quickly and easily as people share more
and more information online. Increasingly, we rely on online information to understand
what is happening in our world.

The universe of “fake news” is much larger than simply false news stories.
Some stories may have a nugget of truth, but lack any contextualizing
details. They may not include any verifiable facts or sources. Some stories
may include basic verifiable facts, but are written using language that is
deliberately inflammatory, leaves out pertinent details or only presents one
viewpoint. "Fake news" exists within a larger ecosystem of mis- and
disinformation.
Misinformation is false or inaccurate information that is mistakenly or
inadvertently created or spread; the intent is not to deceive.
Disinformation is false information that is deliberately created and spread
"in order to influence public opinion or obscure the truth"
(https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/disinformation). 

Misinformation and disinformation is produced for a variety of complex reasons: 

 Partisan actors want to influence voters and policy makers for political
gain, or to influence public discourse (for example, intentionally spreading
misinformation about election fraud)
 More clicks means more money. Some news stories are created by
people wanting to generate clicks for financial gain,  regardless of the
content  (for example, Macedonian teenagers)
 Political regimes want to advance their own propaganda (for
example, Russia’s weaponization of “fake news” in order to control the
narrative around its invasion of Ukraine)
 Satirists want to either make a point or entertain you, or both
 The blurry lines between news and entertainment and the explosion of
news sites, as well as the pressure of the 24 hour news cycle,  may
contribute to shoddy writing that doesn't follow professional journalistic
standards or ethics

 
The technological ease of copying, pasting, clicking and sharing content online
has helped misinformation and disinformation to proliferate. In some cases,
stories  are designed to provoke an emotional response and placed on certain
sites ("seeded") in order to entice readers into sharing them widely. In other
cases, "fake news" articles may be generated and disseminated by "bots" -
computer algorithms that are designed to act like people sharing information, but
can do so quickly and automatically.

Fake News and Alternative Facts: Finding Accurate News: Why


is Fake News Harmful?

Many Believe Fake News Articles


Studies have shown that many Americans cannot tell what news is fake and what
news is real. This can create confusion and misunderstanding about important
social and political issues.
Fake News Can Affect Your Grades
ACC Professors require that you use quality sources of information for your
research assignments and papers. If you use sources that have false or
misleading information, you may get a lower grade.
Fake News Can Be Harmful to Your Health
There are many fake and misleading news stories related to medical treatments
and major diseases like cancer or diabetes. Trusting these false stories could
lead you to make decisions that may be harmful to your health.
Fake News Makes It Harder For People To See the Truth
A Pew Research Center study found that those on the right and the left of the
political spectrum have different ideas about the definition of 'fake news', "The
Pew study suggests that fake-news panic, rather than driving people to abandon
ideological outlets and the fringe, may actually be accelerating the process of
polarization: It’s driving consumers to drop some outlets, to simply consume less
information overall, and even to cut out social relationships."
This is why it is important for people to seek out news with as little bias as
humanly possible. News services like AP News and Reuters strive to provide
accurate, neutral coverage of major events. 

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