A World Without Fake News. Would It Impact the Next Generation Positively?
I invite you to a world where our deepest thoughts and insecurities are not targeted by Artificial Intelligence. A world where decisions are based on verified facts only. A world without fake news.
The year is 2031. Meet Jennifer. She is a suburban mom in Colorado with two kids under the age of 10. She remembers this day, ten years ago, when the ‘Anti Fake News Council’ came into existence. Covid 19 had claimed many lives, tragically including both her parents. They didn’t believe Covid 19 existed and attended church each week without masks. Her parents paid the ultimate price due to the barrage of misinformation and fake news.
In 2021, world leaders and social media platforms came together to curb the Fake News Pandemic. They studied the long-term impact of artificial confirmation bias and how it affected each generation. Example: Baby Boomers, or those born between 1946 and 1964, were particularly affected as they were careless with information shared online. Gen Z or those born after 1997, were careful, and yet they were negatively impacted by Emotional and FOMO-based marketing strategies.
While these intrusive audience targeting systems were developed for a better consumer experience, they became the holy grail in the World of Politics around 2015.
The Anti-Fake News Council worked swiftly to open independent councils in each country. Curbing fake news without restricting free-speech rights became a daily topic of discussion in 2021.
In 2022, the first draft of regulations was released worldwide. It regulated future communications from all registered media outlets. Any unregistered media outlet would be flagged as an opinion channel. This enabled the reader to differentiate between fact and fiction.
The regulations were simple enough:
- The council would always remain autonomous — not impacted by political approval or dissent.
- All news had to be verified by named sources.
- Emotional & FOMO-based targeting was banned.
- Media outlets that did not adhere to the regulations would be fined heavily and shamed publicly.
- Fast track courts were set up to deal with regulation breaches.
As you can imagine, this was not received kindly by thousands of sketchy media outlets, marketers, and the e-commerce industry. However, world leaders stood firm in their support.
The Anti Fake News Council created guidelines for Internet Safety. They also made it a mandatory subject in educational institutions. Schools went one step ahead and started teaching children how to spot fake news and develop a well-informed opinion.
As Jennifer sips on her champagne, she watches her children sleep. Her children grew up curious, well-informed, and opinionated. They never got to meet their grandparents, but they are growing up shielded from the all-seeing algorithm. Their thoughts and opinions are their own, only affected by people around them and verified media sources.
While we still have miles to go, the future looks promising.
