Internet Controversy – Fake News
Fake news, also considered disinformation, spreads faster in society today because of the presence of the internet and social bots. This phenomenon is responsible for the rise in cases of people committing suicide over false allegations made about them, consumers refusing to purchase products from a legitimate company, and political unrest in countries. For instance, in 2016, the United States ‘ population was nearly influenced not to elect their former president because of the fake news spread about Russia’s intervention in their election processes. Today, disinformation has hurt more than it merely compels a difference in views in the consumer. Fake news spread over the internet impacts its consumers negatively and associated accused persons, businesses, or governments.
The perpetrators of fake news, often almost untraceable, succeed in creating controversies every time they misinform consumers of their content. These persons convince internet users that products from a company they are targeting to destroy are harmful and should be avoided. Sadly, not many people who consume fake news take time to verify the disinformation they interact with on the internet spaces, and if the news has been presented in an excessively convincing manner, then they quickly accept it as reality (Talwar et al., 2020). Many firms have experienced a dip in their revenue because of fake news that insinuated their products were inauthentic or they were harmful to consumers in a way.
Fake news is also responsible for people ending their lives because the targeted victim was unable to bear the mental torture of being accused falsely. Primarily, in today’s context, where people like to spread disinformation through social media, many suicide cases have been witnessed because of the mentioned phenomenon (Tsfati et al., 2020). Lastly, fake news threatens a country’s political stability and can result in a political controversy that escalates to the extent that citizens hurt their associates. Overall, fake news is propaganda that accomplishes its desire to create controversy, especially when it is spread through the internet.
References
Talwar, S., Dhir, A., Singh, D., Virk, G. S., & Salo, J. (2020). Sharing of fake news on social media: Application of the honeycomb framework and the third-person effect hypothesis. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 57. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2020.102197
Tsfati, Y., Boomgaarden, H. G., Strömbäck, J., Vliegenthart, R., Damstra, A., & Lindgren, E. (2020). Causes and consequences of mainstream media dissemination of fake news: Literature review and synthesis. Annals of the International Communication Association, 44(2), 157-173. https://doi.org/10.1080/23808985.2020.1759443
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Question 
The Internet empowers enhanced communication on global, national, and local levels. With all of the positive aspects, by its very design, the Internet is very difficult to control, and over time, various societal and legal issues have arisen. For this week’s discussion:
Internet Controversy – Fake News
Select an Internet controversy and discuss why this issue is significant to society. It will be necessary to research the issue before writing. Feel free to take a position on the issue and include arguments to make your point.
Here are some example topics (feel free to select a topic not found on this list):
Bandwidth Caps
Censorship
Climategate
Dark/Deep Web (online drug sales, etc.)
Eavesdropping
Fake News
Filesharing
Google Books/Copyrights
Google Street View & Privacy
Net Neutrality
Pornography
Wikileaks
Follow these guidelines when completing this activity:
Your initial reply should be two to three paragraphs in length (about 200-250 words).
Read your classmates’ replies and expand on the ideas of at least two of their posts.
Feel free to challenge ideas if you disagree.