Impact of Misinformation on Social Media (Dissertation Sample)

Impact of Misinformation on Social Media
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Impact of Misinformation on Social Media
2. Introduction
The phenomenon of misinformation is growing rapidly and transcending the world like wild fire. (Wardle & Derakhshan, 2017) defines misinformation as the spread of false or inaccurate information deliberately to create negative impact or arm to an individual, a particular group of individuals, government institution or to influence the operation of a commercial entity. Misinformation is taking advantage of the expanding influence of social media platforms. The spread of false information using social media platforms in the world today is overtaking the traditional media channels. It is also almost overshadowing the journalism ethics posing dangerous effect of social economic and political stability.
In politics misinformation which has popularly been referred to as “Fake news” is intended to damage the political reputation of a competitor. For instance, “Fake news” came into the global debate after 2016 US election. The influence of misinformation was more perceive during the political contest between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. Use of political misinformation has also be seen in other countries such as Hong Kong where the government is facing difficulty in counteracting information fronted by those political forces fighting Chinese control. Misinformation is widely utilized in mature democracies where freedom of speech and independency of journalism is guaranteed. The spread of false information is a bit limited in dictatorial regimes commonly prevailing in third world countries.
Misinformation is also common in advocating sectarian ideologies. Terror organizations disseminate well-crafted information intended to arouse hostility against certain ideology, governments, nation or religious believe. The rise of terror groups is attributed to the spread of misinformation to attract following. ISIS is one such terror group which design