Satire and parody

What tells a lie story in an interesting. Unlike other examples, it is often made without explicit malicious intent and is not always recognized as fake news. However, it is possible that what you telling as a joke will be recognized as true and you will unintentionally deceive the person who received the information. It is also an act that should be avoided.

Japan case

There is a Windsor Effect. It is a word that expresses the psychological effect that the credibility of the evaluation increases when the evaluation is communicated through a third party rather than being evaluated directly by the person. The weaker the connection between the third party who conveys the evaluation and the person who is evaluated, the less profit the evaluation will make for the evaluation side. Therefore, the other party often feels that it is highly credible.

<1973 Toyokawa Credit Bank Incident>

An incident in which a joke that a high school student told a friend was misunderstood and spread, causing a big run on the bank.
The beginning of the matter was that when a high school student who got a job at Toyokawa Bank made a friend of the story, the friend of the high school student made fun of "The credit union is dangerous (because a robbery may come)". This wasn't important because it was just a joke, but a high school student who took it seriously asked his family, "Is the credit union dangerous?"
After that, family of high school students consulted with another person, and that person spread as rumors to another person. Furthermore, as the story spread, the content of the story changed to "Is it dangerous?", "Maybe dangerous", and "dangerous". And rumors quickly spread widespread due to this and chance. The story that "the credit union is dangerous" was easily changed to the story that "Asahikawa credit union collapses". People who believed in the rumors withdraw large amounts of deposits from banks, eventually spreading to a panic of withdrawing 2 million yen in deposits and savings.

money
Image of money  / Photo by "PIXADAY"
What is noteworthy about this case is that the rumors did not disappear even if the party, Toyokawa Credit Bank, denied it, but rather accelerated the suspicions. Evaluations received from third parties, such as the Windsor effect introduced above, tend to be more likely to be believed by more people, even if they are wrong, than evaluations involving the interests of the parties. Therefore, once the fake news has spread, it cannot be easily canceled even if the parties try to deny the evaluation.

Abroad case

If what someone said as a joke was misunderstood, it is often the case that the person who made the joke is not malicious. Especially when you make a joke on SNS such as Twitter, it is difficult to convey the exact nuance in the characters unlike the reality, so the recipient may not regard as a joke and it may become a serious problem. In that case, even conversations that make you laugh with jokes may cause "flaming" on SNS, which may have a great impact on your real life.

<A case in which a sentence posted as a mere joke was criticized all over the world and life was ruined.>

"I'm heading to Africa. I hope I don't get AIDS. I'm kidding. I just said. I can't. I'm white!"(cited from "東洋経済オンライン")
This is a free translation of a sentence posted on Twitter by a woman who worked for a major company. The woman did not specifically post to discriminate against blacks, but rather tweeted this sentence with the meaning of self-deprecation against herself as a white. Also, if someone who knew her saw this tweet, they would soon know that it wasn't serious. In fact, It wasn't very responsive for tens of minutes after being posted, and she boarded the plane.
 But shortly thereafter, the tweet was spread in huge quantities. Her Twitter account was filled with tweets criticizing her, and her company tweeted that she was "too insane", telling her that she was on a plane. In addition, the current position of the plane she was on was broadcast in real time, and even a person who went to the landing airfield and tried to take a picture appeared.

airplane
Image of airplanes  / Photo by "PIXADAY"
   Her tweets were malicious, and hurt some viewers. but that tweets ware not thing that disappointing to many. But in fact, her name remained online after deleting the tweet. It is important to be aware that there are many people who truly receive stories that would only be accepted as jokes in reality on SNS that is open to the general public.

Summary

Unlike other grades, fake news related to satire and parody is the only thing that can not be maliciously made. Therefore, people who unintentionally send fake news often become victims, and especially if they are left on SNS etc., there is a high possibility that they will remain on the net for a long time. Also, since it is often the case that false facts such as the "Windsor effect" that have been spread no matter how much the person denies continue to be believed, it is not possible to completely erase the fake news that has been spread once.
 In addition, as in the cases mentioned above, the jokes that are common to friends and acquaintances are often spread to many people and become fake news. The cause is the act of "spreading", and the main cause of fake news is spreading to others without thinking deeply, especially on SNS. Therefore, when introducing something to people and spreading it on SNS etc. (not limited to that), it is necessary to think deeply and then act in a society where the modern Internet is widespread.

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