CCT300+Lab4


 * Lab 4 **

Memes have incredible potential when it comes to spreading information. In most cases, however, memes are simply harmless internet jokes or trends. For example, a popular meme known as rickrolling consists of putting false links that appear to be for one thing, but actually just link to Rick Astley’s music video for his song “Never Gonna Give You Up”. This type of meme is humorous at first, but can eventually become somewhat annoying when done on a vast scale. The real problem arises when memes are used to tamper with more serious matters like politics. Through memes, falsified information can spread to several thousands of people almost instantly. Memes are difficult to deal with because they are generated through the actions of thousands of anonymous users mimicking each other’s actions. Once a meme becomes big enough, unknowing users are likely to mistake it for the truth. Memes are commonly spread through popular websites that serve as platforms for user generated content, such as YouTube or Twitter.

In the article Tweety profs offer political smear-meme ‘truthiness’ ratings: Wisdom of crows to be by, er… the wisdom of crowds, mentions a proposed solution to stop the spreading of falsified memes. The solution implements the use of “truthy” buttons, which are to be clicked by users to verify the validity of the content in question. This is not a viable solution because its success ultimately relies on the users, the very same users who may have started the falsified memes in the first place.

Kyle Martin Manoza