A web of misinformation

Sure, it’s a convenient way to gain information and news from social media, as it is often formatted in a digestible manner, like a quick video or easy infographics. It’s accessible to those who are constantly on social media apps. 

The issue, however, is literally anyone can post news on these sites. It’s essential to ensure your sole news source isn’t Facebook videos, Instagram, TikTok or Twitter, as the amount of misinformation spreading online is insane.

People who share news on social media apps often want engagement in their content, and they do so by posting exaggerated or false headlines that have become oh-so-normal. Whenever I see infographics with extremely flashy images and strong adjectives, I know this was probably just posted to bait people into interacting with it. However, most people fall into this trap. They express their rage and, as a response, the media platforms will continue feeding them more exaggerated content. That’s how the algorithm works — they want you to interact with the content, and thus, you dig into a hole of misinformation. 

Social media has been a polarizing place for a long time, especially regarding political content. We have seen this before, during presidential elections, mass movements, and past conflicts. The Israel-Palestine conflict is just another example of how social media has helped misinformation spread to the masses. 

I’ve noticed a lot of online discourse around the breakouts of the protests on university campuses, especially with Columbia University’s current encampments. Everyone on social media has something extreme to say, and they frame it to create outrage in response to the content. For example, those opposing the protests will deem the students as rowdy, antisemitic and irresponsible. They’re considered disruptive and disturbing to students who simply want to get on with their daily lives. Those who agree with the protests are painting the students as entirely peaceful, and they’ve begun criticizing the universities. 

The truth is both sides are simultaneously wrong and right. Sure, some protesters were caught on camera making antisemitic threats, but those protesters do not represent the whole movement. Sure, most protesters were completely peaceful and undisruptive, but some were also aggressive. The issue is people on social media will use a small snippet of the situation to prove their point and paint all the protesters under that lens. Those who see one protester remarking something antisemitic will paint the entire movement as antisemitic when that’s not for what the movement stands. They will see one violent person and claim these protests are entirely violent when that wasn’t the intention of the movement. 

People need to stop forming their opinions based on various snippets from social media and instead start forming them based on credible news sites covering the situation objectively. At this rate, we are all becoming more divided over false news; it’s time to stop scrolling and start putting on critical thinking caps.

Annabel Chia is a senior at Carlmont High School in Belmont. Student News appears in the weekend edition. You can email Student News at news@smdailyjournal.com.