By Drew Garner, Staff Writer
Social Media platforms are places where people can go to catch up with friends, see funny videos or even learn about news or other things going around them. Facebook is one of those platforms where you can have all these things and more.
One of the most used features on Facebook is “Facebook Groups.” These groups cover a multitude of different topics whether it may be a group of bikers scheduling rides, car fanatics, or even groups for local news.
There is one issue however when it comes to these groups. Facebook groups allow you to not only view posts, reply to them, like them but also give you the opportunity to create your own post for everyone to see.
These groups oftentimes have very few moderators, and when these moderators are not patrolling the groups as they should, these groups have the possibility to be an outlet for a massive amount of misinformation being spread.
Facebook is a social media platform rather than a news outlet, allowing people to post as they want, regardless of the validity of their posts.
Without Facebook frequently checking for false news posted in these groups, the responsibility often falls on the members to find and recognize when this information is not correct.
However, members of these groups rarely fact check the information and rather spread it unknowing that it is false news.
As members, there are ways to prevent the spread of misinformation in these groups. Some of these ways are leaving comments trying to warn people against spreading this information, reporting the information directly to Facebook or the moderator of the group and even personally messaging the person asking them to take down their post.
ECC Cornerstone 