Fake media?

I have no doubt at all that the "bots" have been flooding social media. The idea that the Russians and the Chinese are trying to "destabilise" other countries is all too believable. If you are a dictator concerned with increasing your grip on power then bots on social media are sure to be seen as a way to do it.

I know there are "scam farms" in some countries. They are there to take money from the gullible and even the not so gullible. I do not tell myself I am immune from all this even if I am aware of it. There are measures I can take to try and prevent this but I may still be a victim as they become increasingly sophisticated.

It is much harder to try and work out what is "real" and what is "fake" when it comes to "news".  It is much harder to do this even when I am in the "fortunate" position of sometimes getting information from people who are actually in a situation the news media is talking about. I know that even then the information I am getting is coming from people who will have certain prejudices, who may not be fully aware of what is actually happening, or who may not be able to say what they wish to say unimpeded by censorship.

Not so long ago I was at a meeting where an issue was brought up. Three people in the group were absolutely convinced that something had happened. I knew it had not happened and so did someone else. We were both there at the time. We directly observed what was going on. We said this. 

Were we believed? No. We were told we "must be wrong" and "it could not have happened like that".  I asked where they had obtained their information. Yes, a commercial news network, then "Twitter" and "an internet site". Those three sources had all repeated a story which was completely wrong but it was believed. It was believed over what two of us who had actually been there observed. This is the power of not just social media but mainstream media. It frightens me.

There is technology out there to prevent some of this but there needs to be more than that. We need to teach children reading comprehension. They need to learn to read critically, to question what they are being told and the sources of the information they are being given. What concerns me is that they are not being taught this because it would prevent schools being used to indoctrinate as well as educate.