Due to the development of modern technologies, and specifically the Internet, access to information has been considerably facilitated, and now people around the world have the means to learn anything at any given moment. This essay will first suggest that not all information found online is trustworthy, and it will then state that authorized institutions should monitor and protect it.
Nowadays, it is possible to find content online from both credible sources, like academic research and verified articles, and unreliable, such as personal opinions, speculations or misinformation. Regardless of the expertise or intention of a publisher, anyone can post and, therefore, spread unreliable or misleading information. For instance, not long ago it was really easy to change information on Wikipedia, since it did not require approval from credible sources and used to mislead users. Moreover, some may publish fake news or articles on purpose to destroy other people’s lives and careers. Hence, in order to successfully search for information online and evaluate it, having critical thinking is essential.
Having lots of information online is not always a good thing, especially since it is not controlled. In order to improve the situation, authorized institutions, like the Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass media, should control online content. Among these measures, they can mark certain articles as official and flag untrustworthy sources. With time this can be done with the help of AI tools. Moreover, there can be introduced collaborations with tech companies to track, protect and verify the flow of information. For example, on Facebook, governments can force the network to remove content they consider as misinformation.
In conclusion, although the internet has given access to immense amounts of information, the simplicity of adding it online has raised concerns about its reliability, making critical thinking an irreplaceable skill to use the internet. To address this problem, authorized institutions, themselves or with with the assistance of AI and tech companies, should be in charge of monitoring and protecting information posted online.