Experts don't know if the fake news problem will get more or less awful
If you're looking for good news about the future of false information on the internet, please close this little post and continue your search. Your eyes are wasting their time here.
A Pew Research Center study published on Thursday polled more than 1,000 experts of various kinds on how they view the future of fake news.
Here's the survey question:
In the next 10 years, will trusted methods emerge to block false narratives and allow the most accurate information to prevail in the overall information ecosystem? Or will the quality and veracity of information online deteriorate due to the spread of unreliable, sometimes even dangerous, socially destabilizing ideas?
The results are decidedly mixed.
Just over 50 percent of respondents said the media environment won't improve, while just under 50 percent said it will.
Why are some experts so pessimistic? According to the study, the two most common reasons are that the "fake news ecosystem preys on some of our deepest human instincts" and "our brains are not wired to contend with the pace of technological change."
Whatever. Polls are fake news anyway, right?
Colin is Mashable's US & World Reporter. He previously interned at Foreign Policy magazine and The American Prospect. Colin is a graduate from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. When he's not at Mashable, you can most likely find him eating or playing some kind of sport.
