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Diego A Bolivar

Syretta T Massey

ENC 1101 9:00am-9:50am

November 30, 2017

Misinformation on the internet: outline

Introduction: How can it be that in an era in which all information we need is at arms

reach, it is also the era of which we are the most misinformed? With the birth of the internet and

the worldwide web the rate in which people share information has skyrocketed to an unstable

degree. At the same time misinformation on the internet has also increased. Certain components

of the internet like social media act as a breeding ground for wrongful information to be made

and spread. Fake news can also affect many aspects of society including our politics and how

they are interpreted. But not everything may be lost, several organizations are fighting back to

keep the internet clean from false information and help people get the right facts.

I. Topic Sentence: Social media platforms are able to distort information since they

are based on user input and anyone can share anything with anyone.

A. Sole reliance on social media as a news source presents a variety of problems

including exposure to fake news via unreliable news sources and a propensity to

consume biased or "filtered" information. (Spratt)

B. Many teens and adults are encountering misinformation and fake news on a daily

basis via social media and the Internet without being aware that the information they

find is misleading or wrong. (Spratt)

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C. Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are fertile ground for

the spread of fake news. (Burkhardt, 4)

II. Topic sentence: Fake news on the internet can have an effect on politics and even

affect voter turnouts during elections from deception of news and facts to benefit

different political parties.

A. Fabricated news is expressly disseminated for the sake of earning money from clicks

and views, and it is also used to mislead and derail. (Cooke, 1)

B. Statistics have shown that the top 20 fake election stories of 2016 on Facebook were

shared, Liked, or commented on 8.7 million times. (Affelt, 13)

C. Recognizing that the manipulation of emotions is becoming an integral part of

politics and reporting is a crucial step toward being able to create an intellectual

separation between facts and emotions when consuming information. (Spratt)

III. Topic sentence: Certain organizations have gather their resources to combat the

spread of misinformation on the internet.

A. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said it was pretty crazy to suggest that

Facebook could have influenced the election The company has developed a fact

checking network by partnering with media organizations (Affelt, 13)

B. The fact-checkers have been doing this good work for years, but they're more

newsworthy now, because there are just so many more lies to confront. (O'Leary)

C. With information access becoming increasingly easy via technology the role of

teaching people of all ages how to evaluate information quality and authenticity is

now of equal or even more importance than providing access. (Spratt)

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Conclusion: In overall, attention is needed to one of todays biggest social, political and

technological issues. Misinformation on the internet can affect many aspects of society and

change minds of how people interpret information. This problem can only be defeated by

educating and informing people about it and giving them solutions. The right thing to do is to be

responsible by double checking what one sees posted on articles, social media, and even media

outlets to make sure we are getting the right information. Nonetheless, getting accurate facts is a

major component to make an informed and responsible society.