We keep social buffalo far from the editorial offices
Fruit with AIDS, stray dogs brought to China to be eaten and breaded mice. These are just some examples of so-called "hoaxes", false or invented news that is read every day, especially on the web and on social networks, where they bounce from page to page, from one account to another. "We all fall for it, we have no defense," he says Peppino Ortoleva, professor of Communication Sciences at the University of Turin, in the lecture "Between imaginary cancers and improbable worms" al Food journalism festival, moderated by Antonella De Santis of the "Gambero Rosso".
The reasons why they spread buffaloes they are multiple: from the wrong or non-existent sources, to the sites that exploit the similarity with the name of national newspapers hoping that the user does not notice it ("Il Giomale" scimmiotta "Il Giornale"). Claudio Michelizza e David Puente they are the two inventors of Bufale.net, a site created with the aim of unmasking wrong news and confirming, instead, the real ones. "Shares on social media of this type of news reach different numbers (even three hundred or five hundred thousand), the subsequent denials, once the error is revealed, often only a thousand," says Michelizza.
Especially in Italy the adjustments are not only not considered, but often arrive even with a clear delay, when by now the spread of forgery has already spread. "The hot topics are those that touch us closely - says Puente - then the carcinogenic meat or with AIDS and beers with toxic substances. Some study what interests people and exploit it to earn advertising revenue from sharing the news ". A dangerous mechanism, especially because it often damages companies or foods, which are no longer bought: "Buffaloes focus on alarmism, lately exotic foods are often touched, such as sushi or kebab that was said to be made with mouse meat" says Michelizza. This information, however, is not the result of social media, but has distant roots: "they belong to human society, they first spread with rumors - Ortoleva comments - They are disseminated for various reasons, economic, because they are thought to be funny or in good faith . Journalists are discovered in this, they are a defenseless category for the haste with which they have to move ". Precisely for this reason, according to Michelizza the only defense weapon is control: "What we can do is not to share right away, but to read and use our resources and our time to make sure that the news is true. Sometimes it's enough to read users' comments to unmask the hoax. "
di Azzurra Giorgi e Gianluca Palma (Futura)
