Dave Achondo
IN the past few days, I have been deleting a lot of people in the friends’ list of my social media account who I do not know. Include those who share too much fake news on my feed, and those I just don’t like. Blocking these individuals is no longer an option as my account is flooded with trolls over the years, including people who simply pisses me off in more ways than one.
I opted to create a new account that would only cater to people I personally know; I have been attacked more than once and my account has been hacked on multiple occasions.
Did you know that by simply knowing someone’s e-mail address, you can potentially destroy an individual’s account by locking them out. It’s a security feature of most e-mail and social media platforms meant to protect accounts from unauthorized access. The more failed login attempts they do trigger a security feature in our accounts that automatically locks us out.
Some of us don’t really bother in making an alternate account when we create a new e-mail address or placing our new phone numbers in the details and updating them from time to time to ensure that in case of a breach, you can recover it immediately without any fuzz. So better make sure your e-mail is up to date.
The trolls in my accounts are also stalkers using fake accounts to spread bullcrap news on my newsfeed and I am sure you experience this, too. They are Internet trolls who love to feed people with wrong information, and most of the time, people fall for it.
These trolls sow discord on the Internet by starting arguments or upsetting people, by posting inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community (such as a newsgroup, forum, chat room, or blog) with the intent of provoking readers into an emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal, on-topic discussion, often for the trolls’ amusement.
They say this and that, without any solid proof or data to base it on. Some trolls even go so far as to create videos of their “gods” on Youtube, and smear legitimate media practitioners with prestige and credentials to back their reports.
Fake news is promoting ignorance among the youth today by distorting the truth. Although the news is fake, many people believe them because it satisfies their biases. But whether we like it or not, truth does not give a heck about biases and your point of view.
The more we spread these fake news the more money the author earns, the more blind people become, and the more power you give the trolls over your lives. Remember that information is a powerful tool–it can either make or break. The knowledge you gain from false information would only make you powerless, unprepared and make you look like a misguided fool. In the words of the late Ka Ernie Baron, “Knowledge is power.”
Trolls are among us, and without even realizing it, by spreading false information, you become a troll yourself.
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