The Wrong Reaction to Fake News


Everyone complains about fake news. But Tim Harford worries more about the dangers of the over-reaction to fake news rather than fake news itself.

Harford starts with some history of the term and its usage:
-          The usage of the term “fake news” spiked after, no surprise, Trump won:
“The interest was driven by astonished people looking for an explanation. Fake news was not the only scapegoat but it was, and still is, a popular one.”
-          Over time, it has become a catch-all umbrella term for politicians making misleading claims and media outlets with a political slant as well.
-          Yes, it is “cheap to invent lies, and eye-catching lies are a reliable source of clicks and thus advertising dollars”. This inevitably has led to resentment from journalists, who use the term indiscriminately to try and tar every source other than the “established” ones.
-          When people rant about fake news going viral, they forget a less mundane explanation for what is happening:
“While the most popular fake stories were shared at least as widely as the most popular true articles, that is partly because the fakes were unique while each true article had dozens of imitators or parallels.”

After the history lesson, Harford tells what the real problem is not:
“Despite a certain degree of moral panic, fake news itself does not pose an existential threat either to democracy or the free press.”
Rather, the reaction is the real threat to free speech:
“What does pose such a threat is a draconian response from governments. Is that likely? The fact-checking organisation FullFact has described the response of some governments, internet and media companies as “frightening over-reactions”.
Which is why Harford says:
“We need to be careful that the cure is not worse than the disease.”

Further, says Harford, once all sides call everything that doesn’t align with their views as being “fake news”, here is the monster problem we create:
“I worry about a world in which many people believe lies, but I worry far more about one in which many people instinctively refuse to believe the truth.”
And lastly, we tend to believe the other side falls for the fake news whereas our own side and “people like us” don’t!
“It feeds into the tempting but smug assumption that the world is full of idiots.”

That’s a lot to chew on… and it’s definitely worth thinking over.

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