Whether you're celebrating or being very upset about the result of this presidential election, we have to unify and make this country even greater than ever. #DividedWeFall
In this 45th President of U.S.A. race, both candidates had widely adopted and used social media to broaden their reach to voters. Set aside the controversial context in Mr. Trump's tweets, we have to admit that none President-elect in American history was more proactive than him to leverage the power of technology. But now, many has blamed and pointed the election result was highly intercepted/manipulated by the 'fake' news circulating around on internet, especially on FB and TWTR. There're even immediate studies by news media released with prosperity that FB did win the Trump presidency. Was it true or wasn't it? Facebook's founder CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, first denied the allegation and claimed that's a 'crazy idea', then shortly afterward, FB rolled out a new policy and tool to filter the false news. And TWTR today took a step further to banning "Alt-right" accounts for eliminating the abusive and harassing content, a problem has long been seriously troubling the company since many high-profile celebrities decided to shut down their accounts to avoid trolling/bullying. And straightway my questions is whether both social platforms shall take the responsibility of gatekeeping the quality of context. What are their ethical guidelines? Will their new policies and tools resolve the 'fake' news issue once for all?
In the good old days, there was a business called the 'Newsstand' distributing a variety of publications, including tabloids which lied the most: A few would undoubtedly believe any ridiculous stories fabricated in there, but some wouldn't even bother wasting a couple of dollars to entertain themselves with those hilarious narratives. Regardless, the man at the newsstand selling the fake news wont get blamed on because public generally acknowledged that person didn't have sufficient data knowledge and power to screen the massive news information published nor the sellers concerned of. Today, applied with same methodology but in a different formation submerged with modern technology aiming faster distribution of data, we have FB and TWTR, merely, a 'complimentary' service platform/message board for people to sharing/expressing their prospective or feelings for the profits return of advertisement you read or watched. Moreover, even empowered with AI and Machine Learning, FB and TWTR are incapable of classifying/filtrating/arbitrating the news data legitimacy from A to Z. The root of this problem is the ignorance of people blindly believe whatever they read online without verification (#FactCheck) and conscious judgement, truly caused by the total failure of our education system. Both platforms simply become the scapegoats of politicians and those now feeling full of guilts blindfolded to vote Mr. Trump. The so-called changes in information filter will not resolve anything but complicate the issue, and potentially worsen the future election results. Bottom line is to strengthen our education system from elementary schools to universities, and civilize general public about the importance of credentials in a data/information age.
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