Fake News in the Future

According to the Pew Research Center, many experts "fear uncivil and manipulative behaviors on the internet will persist – and may get worse." In recent times fake news is an issue that has been taken over the community. It has come to a point where people are believing the news even when they know that it is not from a reliable source. Whether is the media's fault or our own, fake new is everywhere. It is hard to avoid the false news. A May 2016 Pew Research Center report showed that 62% of Americans get their news from social media. Also towards the end of last year, Pew Research Center report found that 64% of American adults said made-up news stories were causing confusion about the basic facts of current issues and events.

BBC Future Now asked a panel of experts about the massive challenges we face in the 21st Century – and many named the breakdown of trusted sources of information as one of the most elevating problems today. Citizens should be notified of potential fake news. Examples would be fact checking services or verification methods of news in social media. The threat posed by the spread of misinformation should not be underestimated. It could cause a disaster if the issue is not resolved.

An example of fake news tragedy that recently took place was in the 2016 election. The saga of 'Pizzagate; a fake story shows how conspiracy theories spread. The fake news was that a Pedophile ring involving members of the Democratic Party was operating out of the basement of a pizza restaurant in Washington, DC. This fake new resulted in a man named Edgar Maddison Welch, of Salisbury, N.C walking into the restaurant, which does not have a basement and firing an assault rifle. The fake news story has spun out of control, leading to trolling, and protests.

Fake news in the future will escalate to a whole new level. In 5 to 7 years we will have the technology that will go beyond the academies and institutions to the point where ordinary citizens will be able to create fake digital clips as easily as regular people created fake-news stories. We will not need an array of high-end computers; we will simply need a news clip from YouTube and a standard Webcam on the laptop. Not only there would be fake news there will be fake videos and fake audio clips.

If this trend continues, individuals won’t know what is real and what is fake any longer. Citizens will literally be living in lies. Individuals will start believing anything that comes in their way. This threat needs to be fought, so it does not continue to escalate in the speed it is. This should start from our own inner circle. Individuals need to let their peers and family know how to establish the difference between a reliable source and an unreliable source. Citizens need to catch false or misleading stories in progress and stop them from spreading further.