We live in a “fake” world
Welcome to our sad, new, distorted reality — the explosion of fake: fake videos, fake people on Facebook, and daily cries of “fake news.”
- This week, we reached a peak fake, with Facebook saying it had deleted 2.2 billion fake accounts in three months … a fake video of Speaker Pelosi going viral … and Trump going on a fresh “fake news” tear.
- A Pew surveylast year found that two-thirds of tweeted links to popular websites came from non-human users (bots or other automated accounts), per Axios’ Neal Rothschild.
Why it matters: This is just a small taste of our unfiltered future. It’s only going to get easier to generate fake audio, fake videos and even fake people — and to spread them instantly and virally.
- Fake polls,fake experts, fake fundraisers and even fake think tanks are proliferating.
- Fake influencehas become the result of an internet that’s filled with fake measurement and personas.
More than half of internet traffic comes from bots, not people, Axios media trends expert Sara Fischer writes in this astonishing tour of our fake world:
- Dozens of content farms and internet hacks make money selling or amplifyingfake video views or follower accounts to politicians and influencers.
- Distorted imagescan make any crowd size look bigger or smaller than reality.
- Around the world, fake pollsare being set up to distort elections.
The hottest political tactic this cycle is forcing a candidate or politician to defend themselves against a hoax.
- Mayor Pete Buttigiegwas falsely accused of sexual assault by right-wing trolls.
- Kamala Harrishas found herself caught up in a storm of fake memes questioning her identity and race.
Fake fundraising is becoming easier. The inability to vet real personas online makes it hard to be discerning about how money is transacted on the internet.
- A California con man set up bogus websites for Bernie Sanders, Beto O’Rourke to defraud donors, NBC reported.
Be smart: Fakes and personas have existed on TV, radio and print for years. But as the N.Y. Times notes: “Legislators have failed to stay on top of social media platforms, with their billions of hard-to-track users from all over the world.”
What’s next: The inevitable result of a fake information universe is real crisis manufactured by fake news.
- Misinformationabout vaccines has led to an alarming number of measles outbreaks.
- And fake online pharmacies have led to a spike in deaths.
- Go deeper:“Deepfakes and false memories,” by Jessie Li.
Πηγή: axios.com
