- What is disinformation (Fake News)?
False information that is usually purposefully spread in order to sway public opinion or hide the truth.
- How does disinformation impact a community?
Information forms our world view, and we make critical decisions based on it. We gather information to create opinions about things. If the information we found on the Internet is made up, misleading, or exaggerated it can affect our view or the communities view on something, impacting it drastically.
- Give an example/share an experience of how disinformation impacted you or a community.
I once saw a post on social media that stated that a famous basketball player had passed. I got really upset because this basketball player is one of my idols. I shared the information with my friends, and they also had gotten upset at this news. I later found out that the post was a joke, and it was not true at all. Luckily, I had figured this out before the information had spread and told all my friends that it was not true.
- How would you help your fellow classmates identify and stop the spread of disinformation?
Only use trusted resources when gathering information, and fact check the information with other trusted resources. If information seems to be persuading you to certain view it could possibly be disinformation.