CHAPTER IV.

A. Social Media as one of the fastest way to communicate

For me, social media has become the best way to get news. On Facebook, I can read news

from my favourite newspapers every day. I appreciate social media for giving me an opportunity

to stay informed on the latest news simply by scrolling through my newsfeeds. At the same time,

for me, social media has become a place where I can get equally misinformed. And worse still, I

too have been guilty of sharing news that I later learned to be fake.

Rumors, fake news and other data privacy issues might always have existed, so why are

we talking so much about it now – and why the sudden considerable attention in the media?

The social media is one of the most common ways of communication and pretty much of

knowing anything and everything around the world these days, and it is growing very rapidly. It

changes and affects each person in a different way, or ways. Some may argue that social media

has a bad influence on children and young adults, and that it negatively affects their brains,

character, or personalities, while most people see that the social media has a more positive effect

on them than a negative one.

Moreover, social media has helped many people around the world to connect, or re-

connect, with each other, easily. 1Social media is basically the new way of keeping in touch with

everything and everyone, and of even strengthening bonds between each other. First of all, social

1
Lisa S. Nelson, Social Media and Morality losing our self-Control.(USA: Cambridge University Press,
2018) 134.
media has made it possible for people, or even families, who live far away from each other to

communicate easily. Before, people used to communicate through writing letters and having

them sent through the mail, which would take a lot of time and communication, could not be

done fast enough and constantly. Another way that communication was done before was by

talking through the old-fashioned telephone. Conversely, now communication is easily done

through social interaction networks on a daily basis using the Internet.

B. The Concept of Morality

Morality can be defined in many ways. According to Cambridge Dictionary, morality means:

“a set of personal or social standards for good or bad behaviour and character”. According to

another definition from Merriam-Webster, morality is “a doctrine or system of moral conduct”. I

find this to be the most interesting, as it emphasizes the constructed nature of morality, i.e. that it

is invented and perpetuated by people themselves.

C. How Saint Augustine Freedom of the will can be used in moral order in Social

Media?

Both moral and natural evil occurs, Augustine argued, owing to an evil use of free will,

which could be traced back to Adam and Eve's original sin. 2He believed that this evil will,

present in the human soul, was a corruption of the will give to humans by God, making suffering

a just punishment for the sin of humans. I believe that Freewill is one of the best gifts that I ever

received in my whole life, and in fact it is the reason why I made this paper.

Free Will teaches us what we need to do, in the context of social media, we all have the

freedom to post whatever we want to post in our own social media applications and in fact most

2
Frederick Copleston, S.J.A History of Philosophy. (NewYork: Image Books A Division of Doubleday &
Company, Inc, 1962) 29.
of us have social media applications in order to connect to other people. But what makes me

bothered is that most of the users do not have morals in their social media post, what does it

mean? For example fake news is relevant in our country now a days and it seems that posting

fake news or articles are basic and part of false accusation to condemn someone.

And in fact posting false articles or news is very basic and everyone can do it, in this time

of election campaign it smells that some of them do it in favour of them or against the opposition

candidate. This type of fraud in social media is reaching epidemic proportions worldwide, at

least in part because the online advertising economy that underlies much of today’s Internet is

terribly broken. Local politics aside, the rise of misinformation discussed under today’s catch-all

banner of ‘fake news’ needs to be understood in the context of unhealthy market realities that can

reward malicious behavior for profit or political gain.

D. Social Media as a tool in spreading fake news.

When the term “fake news” comes up, people usually think of social media posts with rather

fantastic, implausible stories. While posts shared on social media is its most visible aspect, there

is so much more to fake news than exaggerated article titles on social media feeds.

Fake news may seem new, but the platform used is the only new thing about it. Propaganda

has been around for centuries, and the internet is only the latest means of communication to be

abused to spread lies and misinformation. The fire triangle represents the three elements a fire

needs to burn: oxygen, heat, and a fuel. Similarly, fake news requires three different items to

succeed. These collectively represent the Fake News Triangle: without any one of these factors,

it is unable to spread and reach its target audience.

across relevant social media networks, many of which are sold in various online communities

from across the globe. A wide variety of tools and services are available; some are relatively

simple (paid likes/followers, etc.), while some are more unusual—some services promise to stuff

online polls, while some force site owners to take down stories. In any case, the tools and

services for social media promotion are readily available, both inside and outside the

underground scene.

Of course, for these tools to be of any use, social networks have to exist as a platform for

spreading propaganda. With people spending more time on these sites as a way to get the latest

news and information, their importance in spreading fake news cannot be underestimated.

However, there’s a difference between simply posting propaganda and actually turning it into

something that the target audience consumes. We show what kinds of techniques are used by

spammers in order to lure users into viewing their stories.

Studying social media also gives us a view of the relationships between bots and the

recipients of social media promotion on Twitter. This gives us an idea of the scope and

organization of the campaigns that attempt to manipulate public opinion. Finally, propaganda

campaign always comes with the question: why. We discuss the motivations behind fake news:

sometimes it’s simply a desire for monetary gain via advertising. In other cases, the goals can

vary from the criminal to the political. Regardless of the motive, the success of any propaganda

campaign will ultimately be based on how much it affects the real world.
 E. Case Studies

To show the effectively of these campaigns, my paper includes various case studies that

show how various actors would use tools for spreading fake news for their own ends. Our case

studies include: 3The specific tools for each campaign are not particularly different—bought

followers/fans, likes, and reposts, comments, videos. Some campaigns may find it worthwhile to

buy “high quality” versions of these products, which are theoretically harder to detect by the

social media networks.

4
Most people are getting at least some of their news from social media now. In order to

maximize dollars from displaying ads, news feeds and timelines show the content that attracts

the most attention. This ends up favoring headlines that scream for reactions (expressed as

shares, “likes” and comments). Add to this the ability to boost the visibility of any message by

buying an “ad” targeting the people most likely to react (based on interests, behaviors and

relationships) and anyone can churn out disinformation at unbelievable rates – and track their

success. If only reality were as exciting as fiction…

5
The range of actors who create false information extend from malicious to simply

opportunistic, with both local and global targets. And the types of people who forward, share and

spread disinformation (when they are in fact real people, and not bots) have no unifying

characteristic. Everyone is susceptible, even if extremists are more prone, perhaps because they

are already outraged about a lot of things others do not perceive as fact.

3
Lion Gu, Vladimir Kropotov, Fake News and Cyber Propaganda: The Use and Abuse of Social
Media,(New York: Cambridge University Press, 2017) 128.
4
Lion Gu, Vladimir Kropotov, Fake News and Cyber Propaganda: The Use and Abuse of Social
Media,(New York: Cambridge University Press, 2017) 132-133.
5
Lisa S. Nelson, Social Media and Morality losing our self-Control.(USA: Cambridge University Press,
2018) 137.
 F. Evangelization in the context of Saint Augustine as a method in educating the users

of Social Media.

The extent of untrustworthy information on social media is concerning, and recent events

have certainly put social media under question. The cause for concern is not surprising given that

many users rely heavily on social media for news. 6In the U.S., for example, 67 percent of survey

participants say they get their news from social media in general, and 45 percent say they get it

from Facebook alone. The situation in Europe is a little better but still cause for concern. In the

EU, 13 percent of consumers say they stay up to date on European politics via social media, with

the figure rising to 16 percent regarding domestic politics. In Sweden and Denmark, social media

serves as the main source of information for 30 percent of consumers.

Yet, in spite of these high figures, there is evidence to suggest that consumers are

sceptical about information on social media. So, for our own safety, should we just give up social

media altogether? Recent viral news of data breaches, together with other problems including

addiction, cyber bullying, identity theft, trolls and bots etc. certainly offer good cause. Rather

surprising to me is, 7according to the Consumer Lab report, most of us seem to be aware of social

media issues, yet we do not want to give up our habits. In fact, there is no relationship between

awareness of various social media issues and time spent on social media.

It turns out that many of us share concerns related to social media, but it does not mean

that we are ready to give up our habits. The question is, if we are unlikely to give up our social

media behavior, what can we do to improve the situation?

6
Karina Shyrokyh, “Fake news on social media: Whose responsibility is it?”.
https://www.ericsson.com/en/blog/2018/11/fake-news-on-social-media-whose-responsibility-is-it(accessed
November 05, 2018)
7
Lisa S. Nelson, Social Media and Morality losing our self-Control.(USA: Cambridge University Press,
2018) 147.
 8
Social media companies have started waking up to the potential threats on their

platforms. But, meanwhile, what can we do to protect ourselves from fake news? I think that, in

this context, we shouldn't disregard the role of users themselves. As one of our respondents

answered, you should read and figure it out yourself and another one added that People should be

taught how to do research correctly and find the truth if they have read something online that has

no reliable sources. And they are right. Shouldn't we be more critical towards information we

find online? We each have the personal responsibility of being editors ourselves, instead of

demanding social media companies to play this role and double check information we consume.

I think that it could be a very good practice to start with. When I come across news that

seems suspicious to me, for example, I try to check whether other news agencies have also

reported this news; i'll check the data and links they refer to as their sources; and in general, I try

to be more critical. Other signs that raise a red flag for me are news pieces without a name of an

author, news pieces that appeal to an emotional reaction and come from non-credible news

agencies.

In the end, however, it comes down to educated users. My paper discusses some of the

signs of fake news, in hope that readers will be able to determine for themselves how to spot fake

news. Saint Augustine of Hippo is known for his conversion. Evangelization has been a

preoccupation in many mainline denominations over the past twenty years or so. On one level,

this may simply have been a panic reaction to declining numbers and the feeling that

evangelization is one way to “get people back to church.

8
Sharon Beder, “Moulding and Manipulating the News” (PhD diss., University of Wollongong Press,
2004) 34.
 The image of Augustine as a pastor delivering evangelistic sermons doesn’t fit our mold.

But the mountain of sermons he left shows the centrality of his preaching ministry. He preached

four to five times every week. Imagine the energy this practice required. And his sermons reveal

the kind of preacher he was, too a passionate herald of the gospel of Christ. Augustine was a

pastor who preached the gospel with urgency. Certainly, he was brilliant; he penned works of

literature that are now Western classics. But he was first and foremost a shepherd calling sinners

to believe in Christ. Examining two of his sermons might bring to life Augustine as pastor-

evangelist.

With these images of our philosopher Saint Augustine, it helps us on how we can prevent

misinformation and spreading fake news in social media. But the Question is how we can do it?

As what Saint Augustine did to convert the romans during his time, he converts them by

evangelizing them and by means of preaching. I believe this was the best solution to prevent the

roll out of emerging fake news and misinformation in the Social media.

G. Saint Augustine a Model for us the users of Social Media

Augustine wasn’t a mere orator, public figure, or scholar. He was a pastor-evangelist

summoning people to repentance and faith. Urgency and compassion marked his preaching, as

did his own sense of pastoral accountability. As he once confessed to his people, 9 “I am driven

by the dread I feel, knowing that I am going to have to give an account to the Lord himself for

you all.” Augustine sensed the weight of his stewardship before God, and his calling demanded

urgency.

9
Roy W. Battenhouse, A Companion to the Study of St Augustine, (USA: Oxford University Press, 1979),
66.
 Augustine spoke with conviction, compassion, and urgency. Christians need these traits

today. The caricature of the fire-and-brimstone evangelist lingers, but Augustine represents an

ancient model for us today. His message was clear and uncompromising: For a time, God’s offer

of grace exists. But this offer will expire, and everyone without Jesus will perish.

At the end of the day the characteristic of Saint Augustine is a great tool on how we can

educate and evangelize the users of Social media, so that with these we can prevent the fake

news that is spreading in our social media accounts.

H. The Challenge for us the users of the Social Media towards creating Moral Order

As a user of a Social media I need to check whether the statement that is being spread is

real or fake, in our times it is easy to promulgate an article or news in the social media, well in

fact it is just one click away. But what is really challenging for us the users of the Social Media?
10
Pope Paul IV one says that freedom of communication should not depend on the wealth of a

person nor his position. As what Saint Augustine did during his time on how he preached,
11
Augustine saw three purposes in preaching: (1) to explain (instruct); (2) to edify, or to make

more holy (hold the attention); and (3) to convert (convince). These purposes of preaching are

what we need to do in order to attain the morality in the social media. To explain to the users

what they need to do so that morality can exist in our social media accounts, second we need to

edify them or make them holy through preaching, and lastly we need to to convince them on

what we are fighting for, to create a Morality in Social media.

10
His Holiness Pope Paul VI, Encyclical Letter: Church Documents on Social Communication’s (1963).
151
11
Augustine, Confession 9.6.14, p. 178.