Do we really control our own thoughts, opinions and perspectives?

Media.

Media is defined as 'the main means of mass communication (broadcasting, publishing, and the internet) regarded collectively.' But the real question is, is it all real? Should we believe EVERYTHING we see and hear? Is it just all a source of manipulation?

When it comes down to it, media controls our lives. Our styles, passions, dreams, our everyday living.

Then controlling our thoughts, opinions and perspectives.

But the real question is, who's behind it all? Who is controlling it?

The answer is:

You could say its the people who report it, post, blog or tweet it. But then again, what are they telling us? Who are they to know more than the rest of us? We all live on the same floating rock. We are told to listen to the people who have the "titles".

Listen to Donald Trump because he's the President of America. (yeah that ended well 🙄)

Listen to Elon Musk because he is the richest person in the world.

Listen to Beyonce because well

She's Beyonce...

But, listen to Mark Zuckerberg because he's the owner of Facebook.

You would think that the owner of the biggest social media platform in the world would be the one to listen too, WRONG.

Anyone remember the Cambridge Analytica Scandal?

In 2018, Facebook had its biggest scandal yet. Cambridge Analytica and Facebook were implicated in a data breach. Personal data from over 87 million facebook users had been improperly obtained by Cambridge, predominantly for political advertising during elections.

Mass legal action was launched against Facebook for misuse of information from almost one million users in England and Wales. This case will argue that by taking data without consent, the firm failed to meet their legal obligations under the Data Protection Act 1998. Facebook ended up getting sued for just under a million dollars. However, this case has led to further investigation into if Facebook is listening in on users' calls to then put up appropriate advertisements catering to what they were saying on the phone calls.

Now do you trust Mark Zuckerberg?

If we can't trust the owner of the biggest social media platform in the world, who can we trust?

What about fake news?

According to Cambridge dictionary fake news can be defined as “false stories that appear to be news, spread on the internet or using other media, usually created to influence political views or as a joke”

Fake news has existed since ancient Rome and continues to proliferate now as a result of media modernisation and growth. Indeed, fake news has served a variety of purposes over the years. For example, it was used as propaganda by the Nazis during World War II, and it was utilised as a way of reinforcing racial hatred towards African-Americans in the 1800s.

Fake news is now largely shared on social medias which has now become a important source of information mostly because they are widely shared.

Fake news is becoming a part of our daily lives, thanks to new modes of communication and the constant flow of information to which we are exposed. Indeed, on the majority of social networks, most users are teenagers or young adults, this aspect is highly interesting in understanding why fake news spreads on social media. Indeed, teenagers and young people have not always developed their critical skills, making them more easily persuaded and, as a result, more likely to trust what they see on social media.. Furthermore, young people are more prone to share what their relatives think and communicate, even if it is incorrect, because they are easily influenced and they have the will to belong to a group, to be integrated.

People with a high social following tend to share their own opinions on matters of the world. Their followers and admires then spread that or carry the word on. But without their followers, their opinions mean nothing.

So the question still remains, who's behind it all?

Theoretically, it's all of us.

Unknown author. Dictionary. Available: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/fake-news . Last accessed 29/03.

Unknown author. A brief history of fake news. Available: https://www.cits.ucsb.edu/fake-news/brief-history . Last accessed 29/03.

Paula Herrero-Diz. (August 28, 2020). Teens’ Motivations to Spread Fake News. Available: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2056305120942879 . Last accessed 28/03.

Carole Cadwalladr and Emma Graham-Harrison. (18/03/2018). Revealed: 50 million Facebook profiles harvested for Cambridge Analytica in major data breach. Available: https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/mar/17/cambridge-analytica-facebook-influence-us-election . Last accessed 28/03.