Fake News and the Problem of Free Speech Policy Recommendations
Diana-maria Suciu
The King’s Think Tank recommends that worldwide efforts to tackle the issue of fake news should include: 1. Implementing media literacy initiatives at a State level in order to prevent the spread of false information. 2. Implementing financial sanctions to identified “fake news” to downturn the profitability of the fake news industry. The Problem On October 14th 2016, the American conglomerate ABC News published its routine roster of articles. Amongst the various titles of the day, two in particular stand out: “The history of the vibrator: From steam power to the Magic Wand” and “Donald Trump Protester Speaks Out: I Was Paid $3,500 To Protest Trump’s Rally” . At first glance, one wonders what these two articles could possibly have in common. One of them is a credible rendition of accurate historical fact whereas the other is a piece designed to attract viewership through its racy topic and, above everything, is completely false. The connection between them is limited in that they were both published by the same reputable source and both discussed controversial topics. Indeed, while the scale of protests against Donald Trump was hot news, by that point, no protester had ever stated they had been remunerated for their actions. Yet, the source and nature of the Trump story was sufficient to earn 462,972 Facebook shares while the truthful history of the vibrator was plunged into oblivion. Despite its inaccuracy, fake news seeps into our daily intake of information hidden under the umbrella of topics of contemporary interest. What is more is that once fake news has spread, debunking it does not actually guarantee disbelieving it. Surveys conducted by UK internet-based market research and data analytics firm YouGov, show that despite the publication of Barack Obama’s birth certificate, 36% of responders still believed the former US President was born in Kenya . Similarly, 31% of respondents were un-swayed by the lack of evidence linking vaccines with autism. 6
Speaking at King’s Think Tank’s 2017 Relaunch event, Conservative MP Damian Collins explained that the UK Culture, Media, and Sports Committee he chairs has identified fake news as “a threat to democracy” and has launched an investigation into the best course of action against this phenomenon. Nonetheless, because fake news only requires a publishing medium to function, this phenomenon gains a truly global dimension. Recognizing that the internet era has made worldwide transmission of information the norm, this paper will thus attempt to identify methods of dealing with fake news without confinement to a certain geographic area. Before diving into any policy initiatives to deal with this phenomenon, attention should to be devoted to why fake news exists in modern times. We propose that the reasons behind the rapid growth of the fake news industry are both political and financial. Political reasons are demonstrated by cases such as the likes of Russia’s Internet Research Agency posting fake news stories favoring Donald Trump which was viewed by 126 million Americans during the US elections .This implies that fake news has the potential of being used as a manipulation device in key political elections. Financial reasons are demonstrated by cases such as the 140 Macedonian websites which exclusively publish fake news under “US hot topic” headlines to attract high traffic and gain money from advertisers It thus becomes clear that the existence of fake news threatens to change the reputation of the media as a beacon of truth that keeps us updated about events globally.