Fighting Fake News

Service Description

Fake news, alternative facts, lamestream media, Russian troll farms, post-truth, click bait, dataveillance, hookup culture, slacktivism—these terms are supposed to describe the horrors of the contemporary online mediascape and how they are hijacking our democracies and specifically young people. There is a moral panic over the way youth are being corrupted by online media, and older generations are expressing serious concerns. According to recent mainstream magazine titles, smartphones are destroying a generation, and hook-up apps are causing a dating apocalypse. At the same time, recent research shows that during the 2016 US Presidential election, people over 65 shared seven times more fake news—news that has been proven to be false by fact-checkers—than people from 18-29. Less likely to share fake news, and more digitally savvy than generations X, Y, and Z, iGen and Millenials are using digital media to organize grassroots democracies, building on the movement strategies of previous generations, but also radically departing in some ways through connective action, algorithm hacking and hashtag activism. Contemporary youth-led digital movements include: protesting austerity measures (#15M), organizing for stricter gun controls (#NeverAgain), more equitable distribution of wealth (#OWS), climate justice (#ClimateStrike), LGBTQ+ rights (#LoveIsLove), and against racism (#BLM), and sexual violence (#metoo)—all from an intersectional perspective. These digital movements are evidence of grassroots democracy in action. What are some of the successes and challenges of these transformative media and social movements in the era of fake news? What can we learn from them about fighting fake news?

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