China’s Weibo & The Information Cascade
A Chinese news site by the name of Weibo was littered with fake news following the election of President Trump. The majority belief throughout China was that both candidates were not great yet Donald Trump as POTUS would be the better interest for China. Although not an expected belief it was justified apparently because his inability for proper governance would give China more room in the global economy. However as more and more headlines on Weibo emerged, a focus on anti-Trump protests began and somewhere in the mix was a question of blaming Chinese people for Trump’s election. Weibo continued to publicize fake accounts of Chinese Americans being ostracized at marches and recounting multiple instances of anti-Trump protestors being racist. The articles on Weibo combined to spread the idea that the trouble surrounding the results of the election was stemming from anti-Trump supporters. Now over Chinese social media there are multitudes of pro Trump rumors and completely false and ridiculous things trending now on the news site. Some of the craziest things being circulated was a rumor about Hillary blaming Obama for her loss and also being responsible for a random assassination. These headlines just go to show how much influence fake news can have, especially in other parts of the world. People who are so removed from American politics and rely on social media for their knowledge (the majority of individuals), can be so easily swayed and confused by nonsense that they know no better then to believe.
Because of the pro Trump falsities being circulated in China, Chinese Americans in turn showed their support to the President-elect. These occurrences were taking place even before the election occurred meaning that many individuals simply trusted what they heard overseas even if it was more ludicrous than the fake news being distributed at home. The writer of the article, Christina Xu emphasizes how difficult it is to combat these rumors and the dangers that they pose. Because of the widespread emergence of these fake news sites that spread like viruses on social media, there are so few trusted sources that people have no idea what to believe. Nothing is no longer trustworthy and any research you do is bound to be just another set of opinions.
Misinformation is simply a product of the information cascade. A rumor from left field flies in and based on who it gets to it first the next dozen individuals are subject to the decision to trust it or not. As we see at Weibo wherever there sources lie the reporters seem to be accepting anything they hear as long as it becomes popular, regardless of the fact that many people will hold it as true. An information cascade is like an avalanche, and in a situation like the election where peoples opinions are of the utmost important, it is so dangerous to begin the snowball effect with a rock. Meaning that if the root of this large cascade is false so many people will jump on the top so that it is impossible to see what lies at the bottom.
https://www.fastcompany.com/3065806/pov/weird-fake-us-election-news-is-a-global-problem