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**Filtering and Fake News**

Do you ever wonder so many people receiving fake news? The three papers talk about media literacy as a concept and some of its potential downsides. The article "Did media literacy backfire?," Danah Boyd makes the case that promoting media literacy may have worsen polarization and strengthened "filter bubbles." An in-depth discussion of the idea of filter bubbles is provided in the Farnam Street article "How filter bubbles distort reality: Everything you need to know," which also explains how they are produced and how they affect people's perceptions of reality. Lastly, Claire Wardle's article "Understanding information disorder" examines the phenomena of "information disorder" and how it helps propagate false information.Each article highlights the need for media literacy and the capacity to critically evaluate information we encounter in the social media. Additionally, they also issue warnings about possible drawbacks, such as reinforcing preexisting attitudes and disseminating false information. They also emphasize the importance of addressing the fundamental social and technological causes that lead to spreading of false information rather than limiting media literacy training to merely educating people on how to identify fake news. 

Media Knowledge education may have promoted polarization because people use its tools to support their preexisting opinions rather than critically assessing information. Farnam Street article makes the case that social media platform algorithms, which favor information that supports ones preexisting opinions, which lead to filter bubbles. According to Claire Wardle's "Understanding information disorder," information disorder includes "disinformation" and "misinformation" in addition to misinformation (real information shared with the intent to cause harm). It emphasizes how crucial it is to comprehend the wide variety of misinformation to resist it successfully.The necessity of making media literacy instruction more inclusive and available is another important topic raised in these publications. In “Did Social media literacy backfire," Boyd points out that marginalized communities have not had access to media literacy instruction, which has historically been geared toward the middle class. Similar to this, "Understanding Information Disorder" emphasizes how media literacy education needs to be more inclusive, considering how false information affects vulnerable people. The stories also cover how digital firms have exacerbated the dissemination of false information. Did media literacy backfire? As discussed, Boyd points out that while media literacy instruction can assist people in developing more critical thinking skills as information consumers, it is not a solution for the issue of disinformation. Instead, the author contends that we must address the underlying social and technological elements, such as the algorithms employed by internet corporations to favor particular kinds of content that contribute to the spread of disinformation. 

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