Sifting Through and Fact-checking as Enabler to Combat Fake News and Misinformation on Social Media Platforms

Abstract

With the advancement of information technology, the process of swirling news and pieces of information regardless of their credibility on social media platforms has been made effortless and within practically every one’s capabilities. This fact has resulted in chaotic and messy news as well as misinformation. Put differently, by virtue of the breakthrough technological advance, today information is so much ‘‘technologized’’ in a wide range of ways that the veracity of what is being disseminated on social media platforms is at stake in the sense that serious threat is being made against truth. With this background in mind, this paper is twofold; first it tends to highlight the importance of sifting information through and checking facts so as to block fake news and misinformation. Second, this paper will provide related conclusions and recommendations based on the data obtained. To gain a deeper understanding of the research topic as to whether or not students verify information and news on Facebook and Twitter platforms, this study used a quantitative approach in the form of a questionnaire to gain more insights on the topic being studied