The Challenges of Staying Informed in the Mis-Information Age
Tags: Information Technology, Fake News, Facebook, Digital Marketing, Social Media

Google’s own trillion-dollar search engine algorithm is susceptible to false and misleading information. When Devin Patrick Kelley gunned down 26 churchgoers in Sutherland Springs, Google spread misinformation thanks to it’s ‘Popular on Twitter’ feature⁷. Google may have put too much trust in unverifiable sources when feeding real-time Twitter results for related searches. Just hours after the incident, tweets falsely labeled Kelley as a Muslim convert, member of a pro-Bernie Sanders group and a radical with ties to ANTIFA. Millions of people read the Google feed and the misinformation and speculation shaped perceptions while failing to provide verifiable facts.

Google’s had other issues with false or misleading information appearing in search results. Originally meant to answer common questions from consumers, Google’s ‘answer box’ is powered by websites ranking on the first page for specific searches⁸. The ‘rich snippet’ or ‘position zero,’ as it’s also commonly known, helps power voice searches on mobile devices and Google Home. While only 15 to 20 percent of all Google searches currently return a featured snippet, the impact can be significant. Earlier this year, prominent search engine marketer, Danny Sullivan, noticed that select Google searches were returning clearly false results, including the idea that Barack Obama was attempting a government coup d’état. ALT-right news sites like Breitbart also generated unfounded results, including the accusation that Hillary Clinton is an alcoholic. The questionable sources can originate across the political, socio-economic and geographic spectrum, making it difficult for Google to identify and remove erroneous results, but that doesn’t make the issue any less important to address.

Originally known for posting pictures of flowers, weddings and gardens, Pinterest has broadened its userbase significantly. Unfortunately, with growth comes opportunity for misuse. While Pinterest is an image-centric website, it’s not immune to manipulation. For example, many people turn to Pinterest for healthy lifestyle advice and information. Unfortunately, Pinterest is chock-full of misleading information, ranging from miracle cures to warnings about common ingredients that can kill you⁹. One popular pin saved to 16,000 boards suggested vitamin B17 is a viable cancer treatment, when in fact it can kill in high dosages due to cyanide levels. Another pin claims Alkaline water kills cancer. The Washington Post reported Pinterest was also inundated with bogus election-oriented content by the Russians.

No platform is immune.

Social media platforms are not the only targets of hostile hackers and opportunistic hucksters. Even a highly-trusted marketplace like Google Play Store has been compromised. For a brief time in early November, anyone attempting to download WhatsApp for Android from the Google Play Store may have been duped into adding a fake app¹⁰. While the fake app provided WhatsApp functionality, it buried users in advertising. The creators of the app utilized a few simple tricks, including an identical icon, similar-looking company name and copy to convince hapless visitors to download. The app could have contained more malicious malware or otherwise compromised phones, should the criminals decided to go that route. Fortunately, that was not the case; unfortunately, nearly one million people downloaded the fake app before it was deleted from the store.

Because of all of the questionable content on ‘trusted’ platforms over the past year or so, US internet users are more jaded about the information sources from which they consume content. In a recent HubSpot study, most US respondents indicated they distrust the top three platforms nearly equally: 59 percent of Facebook users find the platform to be at least somewhat untrustworthy, compared to 55 percent of Google and 58 percent of Twitter users¹¹.