Fact checking is a must in a sea of disinformation

By now, most people have heard the tongue-in-cheek saying, “If it’s on the internet, it must be true.”

What many people aren’t aware of are the algorithms that feed their biases, especially with social media. There becomes of danger of then being fed misinformation.

If you consume a steady diet of a particular content such as art or technology or fashion or politics, algorithms will feed you more of the same. And if you prefer a sub-category of one particular topic, you’ll get plenty of that.

So, if you’re a political junkie and you lean left or right, more than likely the algorithm is feeding you conservative or liberal talking points. There’s nothing wrong with that, of course; we all have our ideologies and we want to see things we agree with.

The danger in that is misinformation and not staying open to ideas that might be contrary to what we think we know. This is nothing new but, I believe, it will get worse if people aren’t held to account for the things they say and post, especially when it’s just false.

Recently, Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, Threads and other apps, stated that his company was ending fact checking because it was equal to censorship. He’s received plenty of pushback on this, and it is only a disservice to the users of the company’s platforms.

“We’re watching a real-time experiment in how digital platforms shape our understanding of truth,” said Kate O’Neill, founder and CEO of KO Insights, in a recent press release. “Meta’s retreat from fact-checking isn’t happening in a vacuum – it’s part of a broader pattern of tech companies attempting to maximize profits while minimizing responsibility for their social impact. Platforms can sidestep responsibility while wielding unprecedented influence over our shared reality. And this is likely to only get worse over the next several years.”

So, how does one avoid misinformation when you’re not sure who you can trust? I’ve talked about this for years since I’ve been in journalism. It’s a commonsense approach (and I know what people say about common sense).

If you find yourself opening up X, Threads, TikTok, Bluesky or any one of the many social media platforms several times a day, log off. Delete it. Ban it from your life.

If you find yourself watching the talking heads at Fox News, CNN, MSNBC or any of the other 24-hour “news” networks, shut it off. Remove the apps from your Roku or however you get your televised entertainment.

If you’re listening to podcasts or watching YouTube, knock it off.

Reliable news is going to be found at the local level along with a few dedicated news agencies that work on a global scale. Local papers are not pushing an agenda. They employ professional journalists, not pundits, to report on the things happening in your community.

On a broader scale, rely on organizations like the Associated Press and Reuters, founded in 1846 and 1851, respectively. Their entire mission is the factual reporting of news.

Lastly, please understand that the opinion page of your newspaper (what you’re reading right now), though it should be factual, is just that: Someone’s opinion.