- by Claire Wardle
Too often, we share posts on social media without thinking. We’re standing in line at a coffee shop or scrolling mindlessly during our morning commute. The minute we see something that resonates – it might make us laugh, angry or even smug – we click on the ‘share’ or retweet button, and carry on scrolling. It’s often a split second decision. It feels like it carries little weight. But those split second decisions can have repercussions.
When smartphones first appeared, we seized the opportunity to have these amazing gadgets in our pockets. We could interact with friends in real-time, play games, read the news and scroll through fun, engaging content. What we didn’t realize, as a society, was that these little gadgets required a new level of responsibility. Overnight, everyone had become a publisher.
Before a journalist is allowed to publish, they have to go on training sessions to learn about media law and ethics. Their work is reviewed by editors before it goes out. If they publish something incorrect, they have to issue a correction.
For everyone with a social media account, the ability to post thoughts, images or videos, or to share or retweet someone else’s has provided hundreds of millions of people with the same power as journalists; the power to amplify certain information.
But we didn’t offer any training. As a society, we didn’t create an environment by which sharing untrustworthy information carried a social stigma. So, when we’re standing in that line for coffee, there’s no repercussions to us sharing without checking.
Disinformation agents are capitalizing on this fact. We must be more mindful.
我们常常不加思索地在社交媒体上分享帖子。我们在咖啡厅排成一列，或者在早上上下班时盲目滚动。当我们看到引起共鸣的那一刻（可能使我们发笑，生气甚至自鸣得意）时，我们单击“分享”或转推按钮，然后继续滚动。这通常是一瞬间的决定。感觉它没有什么重量。但是那些瞬间的决定可能会产生影响。
当智能手机首次出现时，我们将这些令人激动的小设备装在口袋里。我们可以与朋友实时互动，玩游戏，阅读新闻并浏览有趣，引人入胜的内容。在现代社会里，我们没有意识到这些小物件需要更高的责任感。一夜之间，每个人都成为了出版商。
在允许记者发表之前，他们必须参加培训课程，以了解媒体法律和道德规范。他们的工作在发布之前会经过编辑的审查。如果他们发布了不正确的内容，则必须发出更正。
对于拥有社交媒体帐户的个人来说，发布想法，图片或视频，或者分享或转发他人的能力，使亿万个人用户拥有与新闻记者一样的力量；放大某些信息的权力。
但是我们没有提供任何培训。在现代社会里，我们并没有创造出一种环境，让人们相信不信任的信息共享会给社会带来耻辱。因此，当我们站在那里排队买咖啡的时候，只要没有人检查我们分享出去的信息就不会对我们造成影响。
虚假信息传播者正在利用这一既成事实。我们必须更加注意这种现象。