You're on your own - Shawn's Sense with Shawn Loughlin
Last week, Mark Zuckerberg announced that Meta, his company, would end its fact-checking initiatives on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram.
Somewhere along the way, it was alleged that the practice of fact-checking would affect conservatives disproportionately (that should call for a real mirror-talk for conservatives, but of course it won’t) and Zuckerberg even said in his address on the topic that the practice of fact-checking things had become political. He plans to introduce “Community Notes”, which is in the vein of what Zuckerberg’s fellow billionaire Elon Musk is doing at X, formerly Twitter, and ending formal fact-checking.
This comes at a time when the world is learning the impact of artificial intelligence and its ability to create fiction out of fact and one of the world’s most reputed liars is set to return to one of the most powerful positions in the world (even his supporters will admit this, as if it’s just simply part of the package). And yet, two of the world’s largest publishers (which is what they are, make no mistake) are telling their users that they will see hateful, incorrect content presented as fact.
This has always been a tough one for me. I’ve dedicated my life to reporting the truth and doing countless hours of work to find it and ensure it’s being clearly and accurately presented to people, often through painstaking measures. We should not be shocked as ruthless billionaires prioritize relationships that make them even more money over the good of their users and/or the good of the world. (Climate change, anyone? Oh wait, that’s a hoax - my unemployed uncle posts about it 10 times a day on Facebook.) But we should be doing our part and upping our media literacy. That is, unless you want to believe the lies. And many, it seems, want to believe.
Media literacy is now shockingly low. Some of that is because some outlets are intentional in their work to skew the facts in one direction or another, while most of it, frankly, is a failure of public education and the fracturing of the media landscape. In a fractured media landscape, in which people have access to an infinite supply of information at all hours of the day, people can find any answer to any question they want, as long as it fits with what they want to believe. It’s their truth. You can have your truth, I’ll have mine. It is in this vein that the idea of “alternative facts” was born.
People need to do their own work to become media literate, openly question the common sense behind a meme or a picture or an article they have been pushed on Facebook or X, all platforms designed to keep you engaged (one of the best ways to do that is to enrage you) rather than informed. And yet, just as strong as the need for better media literacy, especially as the younger generations grow up in this era, surrounded by the internet, social media and an endless news cycle, is not wanting to acquiesce to some inconvenient truth.
Why change your habits to improve life on earth when you can find an article telling you that climate change isn’t real? Frustrated with your lot in life? Think you, someone who once had so much promise, should be living a better life? It can’t possibly be your fault? It’s that dude’s fault who just moved here from away. Don’t want a virus to change your life? Don’t let it. After all, that YouTube video you found about it is more trustworthy than any doctor.
In a post-truth world, we should be holding its masters to a higher standard for the benefit of all. Some of us just don’t want to. Just remember: when it all goes really, truly bad one day, you did this to yourself.