For young people, social media is more than just a place to talk to their friends or scroll for hours, it’s also the place where they get their news. Being informed has never been easier, but sometimes false information spreads too.

News outlets are working hard to keep up keep up in a world dominated by social media. You can find them on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and more. Because younger people access news on social media, many news outlets and journalists keep up by using short videos, pictures, and interactive posts to explain stories in a simple and interesting way. But there is a big difference between real news outlets and social media influencers.

Independent journalism
Independent journalists and news influencers also use social media to share news, but they might not fact-check as carefully as big news outlets. They often want to publish news quicker to get more attention on their posts, which can lead to spreading false information. This can reduce the overall trust in journalism. While the drive for faster reporting is understandable, I think it shouldn’t come at the cost of accuracy.

Fact-check
While social media makes news easier to access, it also makes it harder to tell what’s true and what’s not. When something seems off, many users think critically and look for other sources. Recognizing unreliable news is not always easy for teenagers, especially if they don’t have experience in doing so. They can start learning how to fact-check by asking themselves questions like: Who is reporting this? Are there other sources? Is it a popular news outlet?

The European Union works together with some independent fact-checking organisations such as European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO) and European Fact-Checking Standards Netwerk (EFCSN). Both organisations want to fight misinformation and promote media literacy in Europe.

 

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Artificial Intelligence
These days, fake news can spread very quickly and easily because of AI. People can use AI to create videos, pictures and audio that look and sound real, but are completely fake. As technology improves, this is getting way harder to recognize. Most of the time pictures generated by AI look strange, almost like the picture has no life in it. You can recognize a person made by AI by looking at their eyes or skin, they might look too smooth or shiny.

In March 2023, different AI-generated pictures of Trump were posted on social media. Those pictures had certain failures such as blurry faces in the background, a hand that looks like a claw and weird bodyparts. He even generated a picture of himself praying, but he had six fingers instead of five. He posted the picture on his own platform Truth Social.

While AI has many benefits, I think it’s best to stay away from it since it can cause irreversible harm to others and yourself.

Text: Elena Vandervorst

Photo: Pexels by Marcos Filipe