As a teenager, I’ve grown up in the world of social media and smartphones, where we’re bombarded by all sorts of information from a tiny device that slips into our pocket. But I’m also interested in the news and journalism, and concerned about how much of what I read is, in fact, true.
So how do we separate fact from fiction in this world where the internet and social media platforms have ensnared us?
Telling the difference is only going to become a bigger problem through the way that misinformation can so easily spread through social media, and how artificial intelligence (AI) technology is accelerating a proliferation of ‘deepfakes’ and other ways of tricking readers.
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In this changing world, newspapers can still offer a reliable, trustworthy alternative. The news business is, however, under pressure.
In its 2024 report on news consumption, media regulator Ofcom found that among those aged 16-24 only 10% sourced their news from physical newspapers while 82% in the same age category were sourcing news via social media platforms such as TikTok, YouTube and X.
I’m not convinced that this is an entirely positive development. It is far too easy for bias and disinformation to be not only spread but also passed off as fact through the social media apps loaded on to our smartphones.
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I have seen the risks this can pose to my generation. But we aren’t the only ones who are vulnerable to being easily influenced - those in their 60s, 70s and 80s, who could be considered as less ‘tech savvy’, may be even less able to differentiate AI from real life.
This is an increasing and very real concern. Ofcom’s report also shows that those aged 55+ are rapidly moving away from physical news towards digital sources: in 2018, 55% of that age category sourced their news from traditional ‘hard’ copies, while by this year that had fallen to just under a third.
Despite the ubiquity of misinformation, there are still prevailing positives to these online platforms. The internet can, for example, help filter news stories so it’s easier to find what you might be looking for without having to first flick through a bunch of pages. Digital publications - well designed ones, at least - let you search easily for specific topics that interest you, which in turn feeds the algorithms to further target you with stories on subjects you could be interested in.
Every time I find myself scrolling on TikTok, outlandish claims are inescapable. When I sift through comment sections I see the by now misinformed viewers agreeing with the tripe conveyed in a clip lasting just a few seconds
This can be a positive: it allows news to become more focused and personalised. But it can also easily become a negative, if the algorithm ends up spiralling into misinformation and swamping the reader with a flurry of potentially biased and erroneous articles.
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This is especially prevalent on platforms like YouTube, which Ofcom said was in the top five most used news sources through its ‘recommended’ section.
Meanwhile, the development of AI has the potential to be hugely positive - but there are also growing worries about how this technology can be used for nefarious and malicious purposes. It is becoming ever more common to find pictures or videos that appear to be authentic turning out to be AI generated ‘deepfakes’.
Within the last year apprehensions about whether what we are watching is real or fake has risen. The Reuters Institute Digital News Report for 2024 stated that in the United States - which has recently gone through a bitter presidential election in which social media was a key battleground - 72% of Americans said they were concerned about whether candidates’ words were manipulated by AI. In contrast, traditional ‘physical’ media was regarded as more trustworthy, accurate and impartial.
A similar picture emerges from the Ofcom 2024 report. It shows just 42% of people trusted the impartiality of social media, with 44% believing those sources to be accurate. In contrast, the report shows that 82% of teens believe that physical newspapers are accurate and provide trustworthy reports.
As one of these teens myself, I can back this. Every time I find myself scrolling on social media platforms like TikTok, outlandish claims are utterly inescapable. And when I sift through comment sections I see the by now misinformed viewers agreeing with the tripe conveyed in a clip lasting just a few seconds.
In comparison to reports provided by news outlets that have an established trustworthiness, social media can come across like a rambling and raving maniac. It can be more sinister than that, too, with individuals, companies and even countries deliberately manipulating audiences.
In this context, truly reliable news media and journalism is even more valuable. Like their readers, news publishers are increasingly making the move from print to digital. The challenge for these outlets trying to find space in a digital world dominated by social media giants is to make the voice of trustworthy news heard as well as relevant. We need professional journalists to ensure the future of media will not been ensnared by misinformation, third rate influencers and AI.
Ruairi Harris is a Lower Sixth pupil at RBAI who has been on work experience at The Irish News
