Why People Get Their News From Social Media and Its Risks

Social media allows for independent journalism and the fastest disbursement of information. Whereas there used to be a delay and curation, now users can get information at their fingertips nearly instantaneously in real-time.

The trust in legacy media has been low for several years now and according to a Gallup poll from 2022, a significant portion of consumers believe the news purposely misleads them.

We can speculate and argue that this is fueled by political differences and controversies from the last several years, at least in reference to American news.

Social media platforms such as X (Twitter) has been propped up as a statue for free speech by its buyer Elon Musk and much of the conservative right, albeit the left has less tendency to agree with much of the information.

Social media also encourages interactions amongst users which can both serve as an echo chambers to see more of the same, as well as develop complex opinions influenced by other people.

With the vastness of available information websites like Snopes and AI filters that can determine if an image was artificially generated will be more important than ever before to ensure intelligent consumers are receiving the proper information and information without biases.