The challenge of detecting fake content
In this article, “Opinion: The challenge of detecting fake content,” Rahul Matthan explores some of the issues that have been emerging with the modern development of technology and information exchange.
Matthan first describes the recent changes in the way information is exchanged and shared. Nowadays, we cannot only obtain information but produce information out into the web. That being said, media organizations and companies now have become major sources of information and platforms where information exchange occurs; not only do they provide its users the ability to share content, they feed material into their platforms. As the internet is continuing to grow towards its peak, social media companies, such as Facebook, have become the hub of information exchange. Social media platforms have brought new ways for users to obtain such information. With features such as “connect,” “share,” and “tag,” they have accelerated the rate in which information is shared and have reduced the difficulties of exchange.
However, with such changes in the way we exchange information, comes its risks and drawbacks such as fake news and misinformation. Fake news and false information are not hard to find on the internet. There are thousands of imitation news websites that provide inaccurate or extremely biased information that lead to misbelief or intensified beliefs and ideals. Matthan mentions that media organizations have always been the gatekeeper of content, which regulate the content they feed into their platforms by codes of ethical contact and laws that enforce penalties for release fake content. Despite that, Matthan claims that due to the sheer amount of content and information that is being produced on the web, regulating and filtering false information is only getting difficult. Matthan ascribes such phenomenon to information cascade. He writes “Thanks to the cascade of information, we no longer have the bandwidth to verify the news we receive – it’s far easier to rely on what we are told than check even if the information we receive contradicts what we believe to be true” (Matthan, 2018). In doing so, Matthan underlines the danger and risks of falsehoods and reckless sharing of information. He mentions that digital impersonation has been improved to a point where it is now possible to generate “entirely believable digital fakes in virtually any medium” (Matthan, 2018). More specifically, he highlights technologies such as generative adversarial networks (GAN), which is used to produce digital fakes that are nearly impossible to detect.
Although Matthan does not provide clear solutions to such issues, he emphasizes the need for governments to implement regulations and policies that can improve the current state of false content. He believes that a better and more truthful virtual environment can be achieved using technologies that already exist around us, such as wearables, blockchain, cloud computing, and remote sensing.
This article reflects some of the concepts and theories related to Information Cascade discussed in class. As we explored the topic in lectures, once information conglomerate past a certain threshold, buyers or users will follow behaviors of previous individuals. Through this article, we can see that cascades happen in real life, not just regarding product promotion and use. Although information cascades may be beneficial in a way that encourages sales of a particular product, as we discussed in lecture, they may also have a dangerous effect when it comes to false information. Now, with the new ways of information sharing, false information is just as easy to spread as any other content. Through this article, Matthan highlights the dangers of false information cascades and encourages the readers to ponder about what is being produced on the web, and what is being presented to them, whether the content is provided by a media organization. Or even their own friends.
Matthan, R. (2018, November 20). Opinion | The challenge of detecting fake content. Retrieved November 26, 2018, from https://www.livemint.com/Opinion/rbLvtJE51jwOqE1nyayW8L/Opinion–The-challenge-of-detecting-fake-content.html