FAKE IS ABOUT TO GET SCARIER THAN YOU EVER DREAMED!

Fake news has been in existence for quite a long time now. It has been around in this century and probably going to be there in the generations to come. There are always articles and other resources on how to avoid fake news, but since it is the means by which people make money, fake news has not wiped off. Social media has become a resource from which a lot of people especially young adults in this century get their news. The dispersion of news has become easier with technology compared to previous years when news articles have to be typed, edited, and printed before it can be delivered. The future of technology looks brighter than it is now. News can be accessed with just a click. The future of fake news looks bright for writers but scary since it will have a significant effect on the economy, academic standards, and the political systems.

Photo Credit; Laura Hazard Owen

The problem is fake news is likely to cause is a decline in the economic levels. The trade between businesses and countries will be affected if fake news continues to spread. In an situation where the United States is going to sign a contract with a country like Nigeria then an article starts circulating on social media that the US is trying to use that contract as an opportunity to colonize the country and take over their oil, it is obvious that that country will no longer be interested in signing the contract. This will affect both countries since United States will not the get the resources they need and Nigeria does not get the money they will get out of selling their produce.

Fake news will affect businesses as no company will be ready to go into agreement with another company that they read an article giving bad information about them. Imagine being the manager of Lowes Inc. and planning to go into a contract with Home Depot, just then there is this article on social media "HOME DEPOT WILL SOON OWN LOWES" they will be some sought of confusion which will probably affect the outcome of the agreement.

Fake news will go a long way to affect the academic standards of the next generations. In a BBC article, Gray discusses that we are in a world of alternative facts. He did a Google search on the Black Presidents of the United States and he was surprised on the results various websites gave him. While sources like Yahoo and Bing mentioned John Hanson in 1781 as the first and mentioning Thomas Jefferson and Dwight Eisenhower among others, some search engines seems to give totally different information. Many students seem to find most of their information from the Internet other than books arranged in shelves. With fake news all over the Internet, it stands a chance of affecting the quality of the intellect causing a gradual depreciation in the academic standards of students in the United States and abroad.

The circulation of fake news has an influence on our political system. The prevalence of fake news hit its peak in November 2016 during the US election. A introduction of a study by Standard University on Social Media and Fake News reads "For fake news to have changed the outcome of the election, a single fake article would need to have had the same persuasive effect as 36 campaign ads. Many people's decisions were affected by the fake news of Ted Cruz's father involved in the assassination of JFK and the myth about Obama not being born in the United barriers. Other viral stories were Pope supports Trump and Hillary sold weapon to ISIS affected the candidate for which electors voted for. This fake news probably favored some political parties and so will continue in the future in upcoming elections.

The future looks bright for publishers of fake news, as it will continue in the next generations. More people will be involved in writing fake news and fake news will be all over social more than it is today. It will be as common as ale and certainly sales season where writers will reduce the price for advertisers. It will be a funny one. The problem is that the political system, academic standard, and the economy of the country will be at risk. There would be difficulty in which news to trust.