Coronavirus Panic and the Reliability of Social Media

The alarming stories of the Coronavirus (COVID-19), which seemed just like a movie script until recently, are right next to us and real. Although it does not pose much danger for healthy individuals under a certain age and the mortality rate is very low, panic has increased with the announcement of a global pandemic by the United Nations.

Authorities and senior health officials have already made various explanations about the possible dangers of the virus, how fast it can spread and precautions to be taken. However, at this moment in time, there is another risk much more dangerous than the epidemic: social media.

Currently the social media environment is so convenient to spread false news and to create a panic environment, that no one cares about the experts of the subject. A misleading sharing by an influencer on social media or a message filled with false information from a relative in WhatsApp suffices to double this panic. Moreover, WhatsApp is such a medium that the people you communicate with are your relatives, sisters, brothers and close friends. Many people get confused when the connections they trust share a message without questioning its source.

On this occasion, I would like to once again refer to a research on fake news in Ireland, that I wrote recently.

Fake News Settles In Our Memories

A new study on “false memories” in Ireland reveals the danger of false or fake news spread in waves on social media. Volunteers participating in the study were shown fake news published on social media about the abortion law referendum in Ireland in 2018.

According to the research results, almost half of the volunteers clearly remember the details of at least one of the fabricated news. And even if it is divulged to the participants that this news is fake, they have difficulty in believing the reality. Especially if the fake news supports their thinking, the participants tend to develop fake memories about that news. Speaking to the BBC, an expert has stated that once such memories were created, it was quite difficult to eliminate them.

Unfortunately because of increasing digital manipulation methods with emerging technologies and deep fake videos created using artificial intelligence, social media has seriously undermined the reliability and objectivity of the news. The scary thing is that even if it is fake, once we distort the news, it is difficult to turn it back.

The Reliable Media Environment of the Future

Creating fake and false news for manipulation, propaganda or fraud deeply undermines the reliability of social media channels. Social media tools, which were once described as the revolutionary force during the “Arab Spring” period, turned into a chaotic environment full of contradictory news, where we no longer knew what to believe.

We will need much more reliable resources in the media environment of the future. The irony is that social media platforms, where anyone can create content and participate, are no longer able to offer this reliable environment. Perhaps the powerful and reliable broadcasting of the future can take place within a “new media order” to be established on a trust-based database such as “blockchain”.