Fake news has been an issue for quite some time now. It is already difficult enough to verify if news is true or false, but now with people creating fake news headlines, it becomes even harder. Facebook is no stranger to public criticism and scrutiny. Over the past few years, Facebook has had its fair share of encounters with the spread of false information and fake news and taken action against it, however; recently, Facebook users discovered a major loophole in Facebook's numerous strategies in combatting fake news.
A digital media company called 'Mashable' discovered a glitch in Facebook Groups that allows Facebook users to easily create and spread fake news and misinformation via a feature that was previously shut down 2 years ago. In a 2017 Facebook post Facebook said, “By removing the ability to customize link metadata (i.e. headline, description, image) from all link sharing entry points on Facebook, we are eliminating a channel that has been abused to post false news.” Facebook has created various security protocols and taken different safety measures to protect against the spread of false information and fake news.
The biggest problem with the spread of false information is the laziness of people. People are impatient and many just read headlines and assume any headline they read is factual. Rarely do people actually read an article and learn information for themselves. However, despite the laziness of people, everyone should have access to accurate information. In this day in age, we expect people to be well-informed and well-versed in political, national, social and many other issues that may affect their lives from day to day.
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