Misinformation/Disinformation Border Issues
Misinformation and disinformation are issues within the media. It has only gotten worse with the Involvement of recent technological advancements. Technology is now engrossed in the lives of daily people—for example, social media, online news articles, podcasts, and more. The issue is that many of these platforms spread false information because many are uneducated or trying to be negative on a particular subject. One of these subjects with a lot of false information spread around is the border issue.
The border issue, specifically the border between Mexico and the United States, has been widely discussed, with many opinions on it. Many question whether it is right to allow illegal immigrants to cross the border into the United States and if the United States is handling the situation appropriately. Of course, the subject being controversial leads to many spreading false information through the media and impacting the community. I want to clarify issues of false information that have been spread throughout the media.
One situation of false information through social media was during the migrant crossings. Many migrants were misinformed by social media, where rumors were being spread about ports of entry in El Paso being open for illegal migration. Of course, this information was false and was spread by criminal organizations. This led to many migrants rushing to ports of entry, which overwhelmed many Border Patrol Agents.
A second situation of false information is illegal immigration is raising crime rates. This information is false and is usually spread around by politicians, social media, news, and speeches. There have been studies that immigration does not equal higher crime rates and that many migrants are less likely to be incarcerated compared to U.S.-born citizens. This misinformation led many citizens to believe that this was a big factor in the recent presidential elections.
Source:https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/debunking-myth-migrant-crime-wave
Many people can easily believe anything that is being spread online, whether it is a social media post or an online article, with no concrete proof. There can be many reasons behind the false information, but the main ones are for personal gain or to make a specific group look bad. There are ways to know that the information you are viewing online is correct; for example, you should look for a credible author, check for confirmation bias, and determine how accurate the post/article is. You should refrain from posts/articles with spelling mistakes, no author, and a history of false information. As you read, you can see that there was a lot of false information, which led to many negative outcomes. It is always important to remember that information should be taken with a grain of salt unless backed up with accurate information.