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What can we do, as lemmy users, to fight fake news being pushed in the platform? (self.asklemmy)

submitted 1 year ago by YourEmptyWallet to c/asklemmy

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I see a lot of posts lately, mainly in 'world news' communities, that when I investigate their source, I cannot come to any other conclostion that purposefully spreading of fake news and propaganda on lemmy.

I love this platform and want to see it thrive, but the fact that these kind of posts can so easily populate my feed is disturbing.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

It's not that they can't, it's that they don't have a need to. Enticing news, fake or otherwise, keeps people engaged, commenting, posting, starting flame wars, and they do all of it on the platform. Somebody at some point noticed that users don't mind fake news (as in they don't leave the platform as long as there is fake news posted there), and the potential 'hit' to reputation is well balanced by the boost in engagement they see.

Lemmy, on the other hand, might not have the same incentive (yet?) to keep spreading bullshit for the sake of getting firemen and arsonists locked in a neverending game.