Wintyr Rice

As technology continually advances, the flaws and threats of it become more apparent. We are faced with numerous new challenges to overcome as a society, one of the most dangerous being the issue of misinformation on social media. The solution to this problem is not to allow the government to censor information. Instead, there must be a system created to ensure misinformation is not spread online. 

Prior to widespread access to the internet, all sources of information were absorbed through print or word of mouth. Newspapers, magazines, encyclopedias, and textbooks are a few examples of where you might look to satiate your curiosity. In order for these sources to be published, they would have to be reviewed by the various steps in the publishing process that provide several opportunities to fact-check information presented as non-fiction to the consumer. The Encyclopaedia Britannica, for example, has all of its articles written by experts and trained employees, before going through multiple rounds of editing. It was also more common for people to know which publishing companies were most reliable. Over the past few years, the percentage of American adults who get their news from social media has increased, and more than half of them expect said news to be largely inaccurate, according to the Pew Research Center. Today, there are countless online sources to research from, as a result, few information providers are well known. Many companies, such as Substack and Medium, do not have a standard process to undergo before publishing articles on the internet, meaning anyone could potentially create media in the interest of spreading false information. The anonymity that smartphones provide gives people to freedom to say and do almost whatever they want on the internet. Although many platforms have systems to moderate harmful sentiments, primarily through report buttons on the majority of popular social media sites like YouTube and Instagram, the culprit often isn’t reprimanded outside of the app, providing little incentive to cease such behavior. 

Should the government monitor the information being posted to social media platforms and websites in the interest of distinguishing truth from misinformation? The line between moderation and censorship is thin, and surrounded by gray areas. It’s unrealistic to believe the government wouldn’t take advantage of this ability in order to prevent the exposure of content critical to their political practices. It wasn’t too long ago that Donald Trump, the former president of the United States, attempted to overturn election results that did not turn out in his favor by spreading false rumors of voter fraud and a government fundamentally opposed to the Republican Party in 2020, culminating in the incitement of the Jan. 6 insurrection. It’s also difficult to rely on social media companies to autonomously deal with misinformation. Moderating misinformation doesn’t directly benefit their algorithms, where fake news spreads like wildfire. A 2018 study published in Science found that misinformation is 70% more likely to be retweeted on Twitter than the truth. This hardly provides an incentive for the companies to solve this problem by themselves. The best solution lies in a collaboration between the government and the companies themselves, creating a system where one side keeps the other in check. 

The government should be most concerned with preventing misinformation regarding current events critical to the development of society—by that I mean topics such as wars, social justice movements, international relations, political developments, etc.. This would make sure that the media people receive on critical world affairs is based in fact will prevent crucial decisions from being made in ignorance. For example, a person might vote differently depending on their accurate awareness of current events. We cannot, however, allow the government to dictate the entirety of this moderation. Social media companies should be accountable for creating a safe environment for all users. It’s important to prevent one singular entity from being able to take total control of internet upkeep. In viewing this issue as a collaboration between governments and companies, rather than a job to selectively assign, we can bring an end to the plague of misinformation.