The power of being misleading. 

Abhay Bethur, Staff Writer

Is the title what brought you here? Well, you just fell for clickbait. When browsing the internet, nothing grabs people’s attention more than an article with a catchy headline. The flashier the headline, the more likely it is that people end up reading it. This isn’t a bad thing at all; it’s just how the media and journalism work nowadays. But there is a different type of article, one that is annoying and one that everyone reading this has fallen prey to at least once: clickbait. 

Clickbait is “content whose main purpose is to attract attention and encourage visitors to click on a link to a particular web page.” according to the Oxford Language Dictionary.  Put simply, it involves a misleading headline that causes people to be more interested in reading an article. Sometimes clickbait leads to fake stories because people read the misleading title, and while they may not understand the context behind it, they still completely ignore the actual article. For example, back in 2012, Fox News ran the headline “Obama calls Libyan President to thank him after US ambassador is murdered,”. At first glance, it seems like Obama is acting indifferent to the deaths, but when you actually read the article and background you find out he was just extending thanks for the President offering condolences. The problem is that most people don’t really read the article and immediately jump to conclusions. Social media furthers this problem rather than shedding light on the consequences of misleading headlines.

Does anything spread faster than things on social media? Social media can start wildfires on the internet and can lead to severe fake news and stories. Many Americans believe whatever they see on the internet. Take this recent election, for instance. Fake news ran rampant, with President Donald Trump tweeting stories about how the election was rigged. So far, there hasn’t been sufficient evidence to back this claim, but this story spread like wildfire. Stories like these demonstrate how incredibly easy it is to start a fake story on social media. 

Unfortunately, there is no simple solution to this problem. It’s an almost impossible situation, where the best thing you can do is try to limit the effects of such stories before they are published by calling them out as soon as possible. Social media has to be better with limiting and controlling fake news. Twitter for one, did great with this when the election started. I also think that people should be more careful about what they send around and what they share on social media. That in itself would help immensely. 

It’s a fascinating conundrum to be in and it’s one that will remain for years to come. With the rise of the digital era, we have to accept the good with the bad, and unfortunately the bad is still going to be an issue. Better ethics should be preached to young and upcoming journalists, and hopefully, with the new and upcoming generation, this idea embeds in their heads.