Social media is widely prevalent in our daily lives as it has become one of the most widespread mediums for publicizing news and information. Due to its extensive usage, millions of different news outlets have sprouted in the past few decades with the purpose of influencing the public with targeted information. However, in the masses, some sources take advantage of the gullible public to further private agendas by altering the facts. To prevent the public from falling into the bait, detecting fake news and terminating it is essential. With quickly growing social media applications like Tik Tok, Snapchat, and Instagram, younger generations are gaining access to the internet. From childhood, we all begin to develop the values that we cherish for the rest of our lives. The innocent, young minds of children are vulnerable to the vast array of the internet. And while the internet can be a knowledgeable resource in many cases, for younger populations, it serves more as a poised chalice, tempting but cynical.

Society has become extremely divided. With millions of people dedicating themselves to political parties, the world is torn apart with hostile arguments and debates. And fake news only makes the problem worse.

Fake news fuels political debates by giving certain people what they want while building up anger in the opposition. By slightly altering the facts of a case, fake news provides evidence for certain viewpoints while stripping away credibility for others.

In the case of Justin Trudeau, the Prime Minister of Canada, a blog post stated that his government "sent $465 million in foreign aid to Afghanistan, only to see it 'disappear'" (Bellemare). A study conducted by CBC's senior reporter Kaleigh Rogers soon revealed that while the amount of $465 million is accurate, the money was a part of a larger foreign aid campaign that Canada sent to Afghanistan. The fake news article purposefully spread disinformation to create animosity surrounding Trudeau. Those who previously opposed Trudeau now had an additional reason to conflict with his jurisdiction, motivating people to criticize his actions publicly. Furthermore, direct political opponents of Trudeau's administration used this fabricated evidence as a means of invalidating Trudeau in hopes of bringing down his government and reinstating their own power, violating fundamental democratic ideals. To the common eye, the article directly strips away Trudeau's credibility, leading an ordinary person to fall into the bait of an undemocratic process. Situations like these stress the effect that even the smallest piece of fake news can create.

The extent to which fake news plays a role in today's society is solidified by the numbers produced by several studies. According to the verified and popular business magazine Forbes, 60% of European respondents to a study conducted by the Pew Research Center believed that fake news influenced the elections of multiple countries. Furthermore, 70% of US respondents believed that fake news influenced the 2020 presidential election. On the receiving end of the spectrum, about 60% of the respondents "admitted to sharing information, not knowing it was fake news before they did" (Lans). The report outlines the severity of fake news and how deep its roots connect to the common man. If the common man sees a disturbing piece of news or an interesting claim about a popular social problem, their inner protectiveness leads them to share such information with their loved ones in hopes of spreading awareness. But, as seen in the study, this innocent action may, in fact, have the opposite effect. By warning friends and family, some "may inadvertently do more harm" (Gersema). With more and more people sharing and sending articles with unverifiable claims, hostility arises while those who spread the original disinformation sit back and relax, enjoying the chaos that ensues.

Fake news is not a tangible issue that the government can fix by passing a new law, but rather a more complex problem that requires every person to play a role in a widespread movement. For starters, like all important solutions, the first step is to spread the word. Without knowing about the issue of disinformation, many will continue to unknowingly fall into the trap, promoting information that is counterintuitive to reality. By informing friends and family about less obvious forms of fake news like misleading articles, deep-fakes, imposter content, and more, we as a community can work towards spreading awareness (Bellemare). According to Kristina Lerman, a lead researcher at USC, to avoid falling into the bait of fake news accounts that take advantage of consumers' naïve nature, users can "follow a diverse set of accounts for a varied information diet" (Gersema). By doing so, we can easily spot out contrasting information on which we can do our own research in order to find the real facts. Every news source includes some sort of bias and by taking in the viewpoints of multiple sources, we can pinpoint the most reliable pieces of information.

More often than not, many of these fake news sources utilize social media to spread disinformation. Because of the freedom associated with popular applications, many take advantage of social media's wide variety of demographics to appeal to certain consumers. While social media is a great tool for both connecting and sharing with others, it can also prove to be counterintuitive to its purpose of bringing people together. By urging social media platforms to create countermeasures that detect and stop accounts that have trends of spreading fake news, the online community can prevent fabricated statements from reaching large heights and furthering a hateful society. For example, "tech companies [are] creating solutions that aim to help 'encourage media literacy' and reveal fake news when it pops up" (Lans). Efforts like these are the basis for solving fake news on a more widespread level. With programs that cut off fake news at its roots, society can peacefully navigate the internet without worrying about unintentionally believing disinformation at every click.

Watch a video on CBC News's coverage on the new buzzword "fake news."