Fact or fake: social media’s effect on news

BY CAROLINE SIELING Staff Reporter

Social media is a resource so frequently used by many young students, with a constant feed of theories and speculations students are repeatedly being left to decipher whether what they’re seeing is fact or fake.

Nearly 30 percent of Sequoia students get the majority of their news off of TikTok, and 57 percent of students say that Youtube was their most used or second most used platform for access to news. With the number of students relying on these platforms, it is clear that social media plays a significant role in the news cycle. With these kinds of platforms benefiting greatly from their algorithms curated personally for the viewers, user engagement is a priority. Whether providing those who view this content with like-minded people or showing viewers points of view drastically different from those they hold, social media enormously benefits from engagement no matter if this attention is positive or negative.

“You’re only ever going to be seeing what you want to see or what the algorithm wants you to see,” freshman Maurice Watkins said.

Social media is not all bad though; it provides viewers with an opportunity for new knowledge and creates accessibility to many previously inaccessible topics. This swift news cycle was unheard of for so long and was only truly made possible and accessible because of the internet and social media. However, it is much less censored than many public news sites and can represent many more voices.

“The good part of [social media], is that you’re going to see stories that you would never see a long time ago,” Watkins said. Social media can amplify voices no matter their reach, and this can lead to different types of outcomes. Whether this leads to accurate information being spread faster or theories and misinformation reaching new audiences, this amplification has noticeable effects. Some even use social media platforms such as Instagram or Twitter to see what their favorite news sources have released quickly.

“I believe social media can positively affect [news] by extremely trustworthy news sources being on there sharing the [newest information], what they’re going to do or if they’re closing down. It can negatively affect news because it acts like Wikipedia; anyone can add anything.” freshman Gael Morales said.

“Misinformation” is a term used frequently when discussing how social media affects news and the lack of validity necessary for theories to be spread through platforms such as Tiktok or Meta (formerly known as Facebook). Some are concerned that the harmful effects of misinformation are not fully understood.

“I believe the main effects of misinformation can normally lead to unexpected outcomes. For example [the] misleading information when COVID vaccines were first introduced. Multiple people [online] were saying, ‘oh, you know, this will affect my unborn child. They might get autism’’ Or when they became available for children, ‘anti vaxxer’ mothers that didn’t trust [the vaccines] said, ‘oh, this might give my child autism’, and it didn’t happen So the effects of that [were that] COVID started spreading much, much more” Morales said.

Amplifying these smaller voices is not all negative though. This can allow people who have put in true research to have an accessible space to share their views. Since smaller voices are less likely to profit off of spreading information on the internet it can provide opinions that are not necessarily spread in search of profit. Profit is something that many believe affects the opinions of mainstream media.

“[Social media] could give you a more reliable source because more creators want reliable sources [to quote], and they will do their research, just to give the [proper] response,” senior Miranda Montero said.

An individual sharing news solely from their point of view creates a large space for bias. Biases can affect others who view this content and can greatly sway opinions. Along with biases being spread, individual creators are also likely to spread theories when contributing to discussions on current events. Theories being spread in this way can often create confusion for viewers on the true facts.

“I would say some of [the people on social media] have the chance to [spread] fake news or their own opinion and say, ‘ this is the real news, and most people seeing it for the first time, they would say, this might be real.’ So it really depends on who is creating it,” Montero said.

With the departure of Sequoia Union High School District’s first black female superintendent, many within the community have speculated about this exit. These theories can be misleading though they are to be expected when something like this happens. Many spread theories about this being a possible termination despite the silence from the district and former superintendent, some even spreading theories about this very silence.

“I wonder why the Superintendant forced out has not made a public statement? I would expect that if they were subjected to some abuse, that they would complain?” Nextdoor user J. E. said.