Fake News: A New Trending Phenomenon and Challenges

Mass Communication and Journalism

As we know news is a piece of information which we get through various forms of communication. In the beginning we have Traditional media like newspaper and Television through which we were getting news. After that through internet and nowadays through social media we were getting news .Earlier we believed that whatever information is communicated or conveyed through various medium of communication is real and we believed that , but with the advent of fake news on social media now it’s become difficult to believe which is real and which is not. Fake news has many synonyms like disinformation campaigns, cyber propaganda, cognitive hacking, and information warfare. It also makes it easier to manipulate the people’s perception of reality and thought processes, resulting in the proliferation of fake news that affects our real, non-digital environment. Nowadays social media is a dominant source of information for significant parts of our societies. There are numerous positive aspects of these media, such as their ability to mobilize for a political cause or to make any public opinion. Today no one can deny that social media strengthen free speech in general, allow greater and quicker flows of ideas across societies, and add to the quality of life. Yet at the same time, social media may sometimes negatively impact the public debate. This paper analyses how social media activist spread fake news and manipulate public opinion to serve various motives like political or personal. We will also try to discuss about the fake news triangle. Through this research paper we will also try to find out how this problem of fake news can be countered by social media platform and general public.

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