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Secrets in the Shadows: The Dangers of Misinformation on the Internet

Daniel Q. Lam

College of The Mainland

English 1302

Dr. Terry White

April 12, 2020

Secrets in the Shadows: The Dangers of Misinformation on the Internet

The internet is a lawless land. With the right skillsets and an evil mindset, anyone can

forge scarily realistic articles and images that are full of nothing but lies. People are driven by

clicks and by views, and we are drawn to headlines that surprise us, not necessarily ones that are

the most accurate. Heaps of falsified information can travel to millions of eyes in less than a day,

and all of this misinformation can be dangerous. Social Media has often been accused of being

infested by evildoers, spreading falsified political propaganda. Deepfakes have made it

increasingly difficult to spot what is real and what is fake. Even today, during a pandemic that

will go down in history, we are plagued by misinformation that makes the pandemic more

dangerous than it needs to be.

An Endless Connection: A Totally Different War

Social media has been an enormous breakthrough in the early 21st century. The ability to

connect with others across the world so seamlessly was unheard of in the past. However, it

comes at a price. Social media is by far the most vulnerable platform for misinformation to take

place. Renee DiResta, an editor-at-large for Ribbonfarm, articulates the scale of this issue:

“There is a war happening. We are immersed in an evolving, ongoing conflict: an

Information World War in which state actors, terrorists, and ideological extremists

leverage the social infrastructure underpinning everyday life to sow discord and erode

shared reality” (DiResta, 2018).

Although seemingly extreme, DiResta’s article puts into perspective the hidden nature of this

“war.” In 2017, the CEO of Reddit Steve Huffman posted a thread regarding the unraveling of

Russian users that had been caught posting Russian Propaganda on their site. Huffman states,
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“we had found and removed a few hundred accounts that were of suspected Russian Internet

Research Agency origin… we have found 944 suspicious accounts, few of which had a visible

impact on the site” (Huffman, 2018). Huffman acknowledges the impact of these hidden

attackers, and he and his team have been working to identify and remove any users they believe

to be purposefully spreading misinformation. In another post, Huffman expresses his concerns,

“I believe the biggest risk we face as Americans is our own ability to discern reality from

nonsense, and this is a burden we all bear” (Huffman, 2018). Although the supposed Russian

intruders are the ones posting falsified information, it is the American public that is responsible

for amplifying and sharing these false messages.

Blurred Lines: The Birth of Deepfakes

Not only have these misinformation machines been given multiple platforms to flourish,

but Deepfakes have also given them a weapon. Using computer-generated imagery (CGI),

deepfakes allow evildoers to make seemingly anyone say anything.

Figure 1
Screenshot of a fake video of Barack Obama giving an inaugural address (BuzzFeedVideo, 2018)
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In a BuzzFeedVideo posted on YouTube titled “You Won’t Believe What Obama Says In This

Video!”, we see a video of what seems to be Barack Obama giving an inaugural address.

However, it is soon revealed that Buzzfeed had used CGI and overlaid Obama’s face onto

comedian Jordan Peele’s face. In the video, Peele states, “We're entering an era in which our

enemies can make anyone say anything at any point in time” (Buzzfeed, 2018). These deepfakes

blur the line between fact and fiction, and if we aren’t vigilant, perpetrators can use this

seemingly harmless technology and manipulate a massive number of unsuspecting individuals.

The Real Danger of Misinformation

False information can have real consequences. Unfortunately, during the current COVID-

19 epidemic, conspiracies caused a train crash near a U.S. Navy Hospital Ship. In an article

written by Mihir Zaveri in the New York Times, a train operator and engineer by the name of

Eduardo Moreno “wondered if the ship had some unstated purpose, or something to do with a

government takeover, one of several baseless conspiracy theories emerging about the

government’s handling of the outbreak” (Zaveri, 2020). At the end of his shift, Moreno “sent a

train off its tracks at full speed and crashed it some 250 yards away from the [hospital ship]”

(Zaveri, 2020).
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Figure 2
A picture of the incident at the Port of Los Angeles on April 2nd, 2020 (Zaveri, 2020)

Luckily, no one was hurt in the incident, and Eduardo Moreno was put in custody and has been

decertified as a train operator. Moreno’s case represents just one way misinformation could lead

to tremendous consequences. Feelings of anger fueled by falsities is just a recipe for disaster.

Conclusion

In our increasingly fast-paced world, we hesitate to take the time and reflect on the

information we see. As a consequence, we are easily misled and tricked by even the most blatant

lies, and we can spread that information in mere seconds. However, the best way to combat this

hidden war is to be aware. Take the time to dig in and do a little research before clicking the

share button and take the time to understand who is behind the information and if they’re

reputable. By spending five minutes to check the article or post before sharing, we can easily

prevent the spread of false info to our peers and win the war on misinformation.
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References

BuzzFeedVideo. (2018, April 17). You Won’t Believe What Obama Says In This Video!

Retrieved April 5, 2020, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue

=72&v=cQ54GDm1eL0&feature=emb_logo

DiResta, R. (2018, November 28). The Digital Maginot Line. Retrieved April 5, 2020, from

https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2018/11/28/the-digital-maginot-line/

Huffman, S. (2018, April 10). Reddit's 2017 transparency report and suspect account findings.

Retrieved April 5, 2020, from https://www.reddit.com/r/announcements/comments

/8bb85p/reddits_2017_transparency_report_and_suspect/

Zaveri, M. (2020, April 2). Engineer Crashes Train Near Hospital Ship in Los Angeles.

Retrieved April 5, 2020, from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/02/us/train-crash-los-

angeles-coronavirus.html