Let’s Talk About “Fake News”

“Fake news” — an excuse to ignore the opinion or supported arguments of someone with whom you disagree… but also a reality. The onset of the digital world introduced the average consumer to more information and misinformation than one could ever absorb. This large array of access has allowed readers to find information or misinformation that supports their presuppositions without fact-checking these pieces.

Today, anyone with access to a keyboard and the internet can broadcast their opinion, conspiracy theories, anecdotes, or newfound information to anyone in the public who wants to read it. The average Joe’s social media presence has recently and often provided content in direct opposition to news outlets, locally or nationally.

These contending voices have created this sense of distrust of the media in many pockets of the public. Ironically, those who are distrustful have turned to online, often non-credible, sources to “inform” them. Unfortunately, because humans are behind every online source of information, trust should be earned and not assumed when it comes to online information.

The best lies typically are shrouded by some truth. Earlier this year, users on reddit who identified within the Q-Anon cult became convinced that Wayfair was a conduit for child sex trafficking by pricing random items at outrageously high prices and selling children instead of those items. A few of the items shared “names” with children that had gone missing [https://twitter.com/Bri_taughtyou/status/1281632566152433669?_ga=2.229644316.1234814959.1599146293-306397440.1599146290].

Because the Q-Anon cult affirms the far-right-wing demonization of any other, this conspiracy thread blew up all over different social media threads. Many noticed a similar pattern on other sites like Amazon and were quick to include them in this conspiracy.

“Connecting the dots” isn’t as intellectual as it seems if the connection has to be stretched and forged instead of seen. Child sex trafficking is a rampant and evil activity occurring worldwide. Foundations and organizations have dedicated themselves to fighting it.

These same entities will tell you that these conspiracies are doing more harm than good. This misinformation distracts from the reality and sucks up energy that should be directed towards fighting the actual and prevalent channels that allow child sex trafficking to occur.

Some fact checking was all that needed to be done to debunk these theories. Articles that can be trusted are rarely “connecting dots” that aren’t there and are very more often to include many different cross references that are also credible [https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2020/07/22/fact-check-wayfair-not-involved-child-sex-trafficking/5460739002/].