Social media has become part of people's lives. all kinds
of social media are used as
platforms to interact with friends, get information and so on. In China, there
are 69.4 million internet users and 42.3% of their time are spent n social
networking (35th China Internet Development Statistics Report, 2015 ). However,
information on social media platforms are not properly vetted and such potential
false information can cause serious problems due to its fast spreading
speed. There is a huge amount of information on social media and it is
very difficult for ordinary people to determine the credibility. The wide
spread of false information could lead to serious consequences. Relevant authorities
like cyberpolice and China Internet Network Information Centre(CNNIC) should
make laws to prevent severe outcome from happening, and the education sectors,
especially for primary and secondary schools, should train students with better
critical thinking skills.
On personal level, false
infromation could damage people's reputation. A deliberate or unintentional
rumor could lead to Human Flesh search, which would expose all personal details
of the targeted person. His reputation could be damaged and personal life could
be disturbed. For example, the Chinese anti-corruption campaign uses social
media as a platform to expose corrupted officials. However, some netizens use
it as a chance to discredit political opponents by posting false information
online. The targeted person could end up in internal investigation, which could
be considered as a stain on his profile. On a much larger scale, a false
rumor about a disease outbreak or a crime could cause mass panic and result in
social disorder. For instance, a rumor about a beast named Sibuxiang
penetrating the city made the whole city panic and people barricaded themselves
inside houses in Taiyuan, China 1994.
One approach to reduce
false information spreading on social media platforms could be legislation. China
passed a law last year regarding punishment of intentional rumor spreaders.
According to this law, if a post contains false information and it is re-posted
over 500 times or gets over 5000 comments, the poster will be sentenced for up
to two years in jail (China Supreme Court Explanation, Sep 09 2013). For example, Qin Huohuo, a rumormonger, was
sentenced two years on a defamation charge and another year for affray in 2014.
Such laws have shown positive effects in stopping rumors spreading and easing
severe consequences. After China prosecuted two people who spread rumors
intentionally, there are less disguise information online now(Hu XY, Less
online false information spreading, Dec 07 2013). However, there are still
many problems with such a method. It would be difficult to
differentiate whether or not the person is spreading false information intentionally.
He may happen to believe the information that he spreads.
Also, implementing such laws means that the government has to monitor the
online voice everyday and block some voices. On one hand, people may fear that
the government uses such laws as excuses to silence political opponents. On the
other hand, China has been accused of being lack of speech freedom.
Implementing such laws could worsen its international reputation on human
rights. In the end, no matter how strong the punishment is or how strict the
laws are carried out, the source or benefit of spreading rumors is still there.
Such method could only ease the consequences but never stop the spreading as
long as the benefit is still there.
Schools
can help to solve false information problem. Schools should equip students with
better critical thinking skills, which might enable them to recognize rumors
and false information and then choose not to spread them. The primary reason
that false information could have such a huge influence is due to fast
spreading, which is done by ordinary people who could be easily deceived. So,
this problem would only stop when most people can recognize the problem by
themselves. Schools should add critical thinking skills to school syllabus and
start relevant lessons in primary and secondary schools. Such critical thinking
skills are relevant to digital literacy which includes how to identify the
credibility of the poster, how to check evidence provided by the author and so
on. Teenagers who aged between 10 and 19 makes up to 26% of Chinese netizens,
hence equipping them with better critical thinking skills is the most effective
way of solving problem. The reason of target teenagers is not only because of
their large proportion but also their behavior would determine the future
internet environment. Also, their presence in schools make the cost much lower
than educating adult who are out in society. One more point to add is that, in
this information explosion world, having good critical thinking skills is not
only useful in stopping false information, but also helpful for students in
their future life.
In conclusion, education
could stop false information from spreading from the source but its time frame
is too long. It may take years or even decades to see its effect. So I suggest
to use both of the above methods. In the short run, Chinese government can keep
current laws to punish intentional rumor spreaders and prevent severe
consequences. In the long run, people would be taught to judge the credibility
of sources by themselves through education. Once the education method starts to
show its effect, Beijing can abandon the first one as people would be ready.
References:
第三十五次中国互联网发展状况统计报告，35th China Internet
Development Statistics Report (2015), Cyberspace Administration of China.
Retrieved from:
http://www.cac.gov.cn/2015-02/03/c_1114222357.htm
Jeffrey Parker, "New
liquor ad featuring 'beast' ignites panic in Chinese town," Des Moines
Register, Dec. 20, 1994. Retrieved from:
http://hoaxes.org/archive/permalink/the_sibuxiang_beast
最高人民法院解释关于打击网络谣言，Chinese Supreme Court Explanation of Stopping Online Rumors(2013, Sep 09), Xinhua News Agency, Retrieved from: http://news.xinhuanet.com/legal/2013-09/09/c_117293022.htm
Rumormonger Qinhuohuo given 3 years by Beijing court(2014, April) Xinhua News Agency. Retrieved from:
http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?id=20140417000114&cid=1103
Hu, XY.(2013, Dec 07), 网络谣言传播热度下降， Less False Information
Spreading Online, Changjiang News, Retrieved from:
http://hb.ifeng.com/news/focus/detail_2013_12/07/1559504_0.shtml?_from_ralated
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