##### tags: `CDA`

# Filtering and Fake News

What is the objective truth and where do we find facts? I believed that, as an educated individual, I was capable of filtering information that lacked evidence and finding the research that shares objective facts. However, reading the articles assigned, I am doubtful now. As mentioned in [*How Filter Bubbles Distort Reality: Everything You Need to Know*](https://fs.blog/filter-bubbles/), information gathered from the various sites that we click on largely affect the search results that we come across, even when multiple people search the exact same thing. The concept of filter bubbles, created by Eli Pariser as mentioned, is an idea that I was aware of, but ignorant to how deeply the bubbles are formed. For example, I knew that Amazon's Kindle would recommend books that I would find interesting after reading a certain book. However, I was shocked to read that they recommend books based on our highlighted words, our page turns, and other behaviors that feel private.


When applied to politics, it was even more jarring to read about Jacob N. Shapiro's research results. The power of mainstream media to influence votes by spreading misinformation is scary. So does knowing about misleading media sources help us? According to Danah Boyd in her article [*Did Media Literacy Backfire?*](https://points.datasociety.net/did-media-literacy-backfire-7418c084d88d#.d46kox6e1), not really. The paradox she writes about where we are trusted to research on our own while mistrusting media platforms and unknowingly being in our own filter bubbles spreads light on the importance of media literacy. I can relate to teachers instructing us to not utilize Wikipedia as a source and instead to use whatever sources would pop up first on Google. Based on our filter bubbles and trending searches, results can be far from the objective truth. Even when information is truth, it can be spread as malinformation, or information that is shared with intent to harm, as stated in [Understanding Information Disorder](https://firstdraftnews.org/long-form-article/understanding-information-disorder/).

The potential of the Internet to share information is almost limitless. To have access to all these sources and news is a privilege that many other countries don't have. However, knowing to investigate the backgrounds of authors, publishers, news platforms, and accuracy of information is crucial in this day and age. Going back to our exercise on filtering emails, it is useful to be able to organize information sent to us effortlessly. The other filter I had implemented was to filter emails from my Co-op advisor or emails about Co-ops into a separate folder. I am currently looking for Co-ops for the Spring, so this is a much-needed filter that will help me in the long-run.