How bad can fake news impact our lives?

A fake news is false or misleading information presented as news. It often has the aim of damaging the reputation of a person or entity, or making money. [3]
Fake news thrive in ambiguity and partial truths , and are a powerful way to manipulate public opinion. For example, casein (a milk's protein) increases hepatic IGF-1 synthesis where IGF-1 (a hormone) manage the effects of growth hormone (GH) in our body. [1] Since cancer result in the abnormal growth of cells, some people jumped to the conclusion the casein produce cancer. That's not true [2]. Even breast milk contain casein so if that was true, humans would have gone extinct ages ago.

Here is another example, false information can cost you money.
If you watched "The wolf of Wall Street" you probably figured it out.
By inducing customers to buy toxic securities sold as golden opportunities (fraud), the stock-broker made a fortune at the expenses of his customers - who went bankrupt.
Since the stock market is known to be unpredictable, this type of fraud appears totally legal and can be difficult to prove.


How about the Earth is flat?
The belief that the Earth is flat has been described as the ultimate conspiracy theory.
Flat-earthers believe photos of the globe are photoshopped and GPS devices are rigged to make airplane pilots think they are flying in straight lines.
Members of the Flat Earth Society claim that satellite photos of Earth, are fabrications of a "round Earth conspiracy" orchestrated by NASA and other government agencies. [5]


Why fake news look so real?
Because fear looks real.
Fear and ignorance always go together. We see the snake in the rope, and that's a classic example in the Indian culture.
To keep this simple we can divide our mind in 2 layers: memory and intellect.
These are called Manas and Buddhi in the Indian culture. Manas is like the memory of our computer. A sheet of paper where information get imprinted from our senses. Buddhi , the intellect, is like the CPU where the information is processed. [4]
It's the intellect that discriminate between true and false. But when the information is overwhelming it become more difficult to process. Some people may not have the time to check . The intellect is not called in, and we get misleaded by the amount of information. So, the mind receive the information, and that information may stick around for a long time until the intellect kicks in. But here is the catch: the intellect may not show up at all.
This means that Fake news doesn't need evidence. They don't need to be proven upfront. If I claim that the Sun is powered by aliens who switch it off during the night to save energy, rest assured somebody will buy it. This happen all the time in politics.
Fake news can stick in the mind forever, and even if you're able to disprove them, unless the intellect kicks in, there are little chances you'll be understood.


This is well known in marketing. It's called customer's perception.
Customer perception refers to the customer's opinion of your services and products.
By monitoring customer feedback we can manipulate customer's perception.
That's why your personal data is so important to the marketing industry.
For example, recently a leading food firm tried to name their cheese after another famous Italian cheese. They wanted to call their cheese 'parmesan' and that ended up in a lawsuit. Regardless of the legal aspect, marketers know how a name can change customer's perception - and help the business to grow.
In other words: follow the money.


By using the same process, real news can also be sold as fake.
For example, tobacco is known to produce lung-cancer, but people may override this information by using the intellect in the opposite way. They'll argue that this fake news is created by the government in order to control people's behavior and to promote the business of other lobbies who are competing in the market. A conspiracy theory makes you believe that some influential organization , individual or system is responsible for a particular event. Facts are dismissed as fake news to relieve our fears, and by spreading fake news we know something other don't know. We feel smarter, choosen, we accomplished a purpose in life.
The stronger the fear, the stronger the motivation to find a 'reliable' source of truth that we can safely rely upon. Extremism thrive in this context.


In the Covid pandemic we see the same pattern.
Since human's immune system may react differently to a vaccine, some people may experience severe side effects, or even death. This is known by the medical community , though these are quite rare events, say one in a million. Food allergies pose a similar threat. For example, people allergic to nuts may experience strong reactions (anaphylaxis) and even death. Some farmers die every year due to anaphylaxis triggered by insect stings.
These threats may trigger fear, and to deal with it some people become quite creative.
For example, vaccines are created by aliens. Vaccines contain microchips to track humans. Vaccines cause autism. Vaccines don't work and they cause Covid variants. Vaccine makes you infertile. Vaccines rewrite your DNA, and cause cancer in the long-run.


How to spot a fake news?
Try to use your intellect (Buddhi). In general if it's negative or impacting someone else credibility, there are good chances it's a fake news.

The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) published a summary to assist people in recognizing fake news: [6]

• Consider the source | social media is a super-spreader of fake news
• Read beyond the headline | try to understand the whole story
• Check the authors | are they real and credible?
• Assess the supporting sources | to ensure they support the claims
• Check the date of publication | to see if the story is relevant and up to date
• Ask if it is a joke | to determine if it is meant to be satire
• Review your own biases | to see if they are affecting your judgment
• Ask experts | get confirmation from independent people with domain knowledge

[1] https://nutritionj.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1475-2891-12-103
[2] https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/causes-of-cancer/cancer-myths/can-milk-and-dairy-products-cause-cancer
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fake_news
[4] https://isha.sadhguru.org/yoga/yoga-articles-mind-stress/parts-of-mind/
[5] https://www.livescience.com/24310-flat-earth-belief.html
[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fake_news