On combating fake news, Financial Times columnist Hannah Kuchler suggests that “news literacy should be taught like sex and drugs education, to protect individuals and society as a whole.”
The reach of fake news during the US presidential election showed beyond doubt that people are not good judges of what news sources are trustworthy.
The reality is that it’s spreading fast and much debate is centred on how to curb it.
Facebook have shifted their algorithms to try save face around those ‘fake Russian news services’ and a new online game called ‘Bad News’ aims to help people understand the process of creating fake news.
In my view more time should be spent on the individuals consuming rather than those creating. With the right education in place, individuals can control what is shared and determine the future of such platforms, because without the user and virality, there’s no value in fake news services.
