‘The false truth when repeated again and again, eventually becomes the truth ‘ are the lines spoken by the veterans in the context of false information. Google is the epicenter of the internet and has become a household name. However, the information uploaded at times is slightly inaccurate or totally wrong.
The technological and industrial revolution led to development of internet, the World Wide Web. It gives us data within fractions of milliseconds, information about history, science, engineering, current affairs, economics and news. While the information is readily available, concerns about it’s authenticity and accuracy are persisting and realistic problems.
To elucidate, misinformation on the internet is a recurring problem as false information, fake news and rumours are prevalent on the social media. Fake news is an upcoming trend in the media industry, often to control self serving narratives, brainwash voters to believe the falsified truth. Fact checking of news must be done in order to prevent spreading of hoaxes and misinformation, ultimately to maintain peace and harmony amongst the public. Misquoting, grapevine rumours and false information is detrimental to the society. For example, internet browsing of symptoms about minor problems such stomach pain or bloating, leads to plethora of articles claiming diverse information, people tend to believe ‘what the google says’, often end up accepting that they have a severe disease like cancer when in reality it could just be an upset stomach. This is dangerous because of lack of patient literacy and health awareness increases misbelief, leading to unintended consequences.
I completely agree with the statement about inaccurate or wrong information on the web. Being gullible, oblivious and unwilling to seek truth behind a piece of information must be changed. To not fall prey to these types of misinformation, it is vital, that we as a civilised society become more and more literate, intelligent and aware about it’s dangers.