CHAPTER I:

INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
Ensuring media credibility and to inform the readers about the issues within
it is the study's purpose. We grew together with media. We get updated in what's
happening in the world with televisions, radio and even in the internet. Those are just
examples of mediums of exchanging information. Furthermore, media became a form of
communication that we can't live without. Mass media serves as our eyes and ears to
what's the truth behind every faces. But sometimes the thing that we trust the most is
deceitful and could lead us to mendacity. Media is full of lies, false stories and
misconceptions beyond of what we believe especially on what's popular today, the social
media. In the arrival of the 20th century, our forms of media communication has changed
due to the rising popularity of social media websites. Until now, social media websites
has been used but became a wide origin of controversies and a nest for erroneous stories.

Statement of the Problem

This study is pursued to settle on the source of the issues made in media.
Specifically, it will seek to answer the following questions.
1. Why do people believe so much in social media?
2. How does false information originate and spread on modern day media?
3. Who are those people who usually spreads fake statements?

Hypothesis
Social media is an advantage in sharing information because of its instant
service. Due to the invention and popularity of social media, many people are engaged to
rely on the content provided by those websites. Many people are using social media
websites such as Facebook and Twitter, because it connects us even if we are far away
from each other. It is an effective form of communication to connect with our loved ones.
Without realizing, people are being dependent and being prone to fake news
from other users who share those things. Social is known as the source of issues and news
or a popular medium of communication. Therefore, social media is becoming ineffective
as a medium. Those users that relies on social media usually make those news that
usually come from their own opinion and ideas. Social media became an issue as being
one of the ways of communication.

Scope and Delimitation of the Study

Social media is the most used in modern day media thus we should really
know how we could prevent spreading fake news and lies to other users. In this study, it
will contain all of the issues in our media nowadays, some possible solutions for media
reliability and examples of controversial fake news. Lies are also part of this study, these
are the alteration of facts on the internet and leads us to believing something we should
reject. Deceptions are form of cheating, money extortion, gambling and identity theft that
hinders the social media's trustworthiness. Fake news are announcements intentionally or
unintentionally modified are one of those problems, misleading us and causing us to
believe on what had updated us.

Significance of the Study

To all media users, this study is important because it is up to date and related
to the problems of our society today. It is sought to raise awareness to the issues of social
media. Social media users will benefit from this extensive research. Not only those users
but also to those who rely in the information and updates that the modern day media
gives. This research highlights the importance of having a plausible media as a source of
news and information. In addition, it may also be a form of campaign for a more reliable
social networking sites.
To other researchers, to let them be alerted of the presence of false media
news everywhere that would spoil their informative work.
To the students, this study is important since the social media is most used as
a form of communication and most of the social media users are students that could be
exposed to false stories and news.
To the teachers, even superiors must be aware that the social media is a
source of fake news and to let them informed that the media nowadays are unreliable
unlike before.
 To the parents, they must know that their children might have the those
defying information that could influence them to spread or apply in their lives.

Definition of Terms
credible - reliable
deceitful- not honest
erroneous - incorrect
mediums- a particular form or system of communication
mendacity- lack of honesty
plausible - believable
 CHAPTER II:
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES
Foreign Literature
The widespread of fake news coming from our modern day media had made
some authors to publish articles about its history, its effects and examples. According to
some related articles, from "The True History of Fake News" by Robert Darnton (2017),
"The production of fake, semi-false, and true but compromising snippets of news reached
a peak in eighteenth-century London, when newspapers began to circulate among a broad
public. In 1788, London had ten dailies, eight tri-weeklies, and nine weekly newspapers,
and their stories usually consisted of only a paragraph. 'Paragraph men' picked up gossip
in coffee houses, scribbled a few sentences on a scrap of paper, and turned in the text to
printer-publishers, who often set it in the next available space of a column of type on a
composing stone. Some paragraph men received payment; some contented themselves
with manipulating public opinion for or against a public figure, a play, or a book."
It was said in his article that the modern day fake news did not just popped out of
someone's Facebook account. However, it had commenced back to when we could never
imagined, the ancient times.

Local Literature
In the Philippines, an article from ABS-CBN news said that the outbreak of
fake news started just nowadays, to be specific, 2016. From "2016: The Year Change
Came to Social Media" by various article contributors, "An observable string of fake
news -- invented or exaggerated news stories that were made to appear supposedly
credible by falsely attributing it to an established news organization – preceded an
announcement of the Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, that his social media group
would take concrete steps to rein in the fakery. In his announcement about fighting fake
news, Zuckerberg cited the need "to connect people with the stories they find most
meaningful." And while he has said that much progress has been made on this front, he
also acknowledged that there is still much work to be done. While the biggest news
publishers continue to attract the biggest audiences on and via Facebook, the social media
giant has also been rife with fake news that are obviously targeted at smearing or
attacking reputations."
Fake news was on of those things that changed the social media world on 2016, being a
source of reputation-destroying rumors and gossips about politics and even ordinary
people.

Foreign Studies
According to the article of Koh Ewe from The Independent, Germany has
been making actions towards the spread of fake news in their country. It was said there,
"According to the German bill, companies would have to remove specific social media
content within a stipulated time frame, depending on how obviously false or illegal a post
is." It has been also reported that an individual would be fined once it was proven that the
person spread false news to the public. The Germany would fine 50£ for spreading such
news. Singapore also takes actions in fighting with false news. Koh said, "As the
Singaporean government tries to figure out the best way to tackle fake news, one thing
they should consider is how to strike the right balance between curbing the proliferation
of fake news while at the same time not lapse into oppressive censorship. the meantime,
Singaporeans just have to be more discerning of what they read on the Internet, and not
be easily riled up over dubious (mis)information." As we can see, other countries are also
making their steps on preventing the misconceptions on the media.

Local Studies
Local studies shows that the fake news is like a fire that needs factors to
burn. According to an article at TrendMicro, fake news requires these efforts to spread,
"The first requirement: tools and services for manipulating and spreading the message
across relevant social media networks, many of which are sold in various online
communities from across the globe. A wide variety of tools and services are available;
some are relatively simple (paid likes/followers, etc.), while some are more unusual—
some services promise to stuff online polls, while some force site owners to take down
stories. In any case, the tools and services for social media promotion are readily
available, both inside and outside the underground scene. Of course, for these tools to be
of any use, social networks have to exist as a platform for spreading propaganda. With
people spending more time on these sites as a way to get the latest news and information,
their importance in spreading fake news cannot be underestimated. However, there’s a
difference between simply posting propaganda and actually turning it into something that
the target audience consumes. We show what kinds of techniques are used by spammers
in order to lure users into viewing their stories. Studying social media also gives us a
view of the relationships between bots and the recipients of social media promotion on
Twitter. This gives us an idea of the scope and organization of the campaigns that attempt
to manipulate public opinion. Finally, propaganda campaign always comes with the
question: why. We discuss the motivations behind fake news: sometimes it’s simply a
desire for monetary gain via advertising. In other cases, the goals can vary from the
criminal to the political. Regardless of the motive, the success of any propaganda
campaign will ultimately be based on how much it affects the real world."

Synthesis
Production of fake news or semi-fake news were started when people are
manipulating the content with public opinion. It was said in the article that fake news is
not started in the modern day but also in the past. Nowadays, they made a new way that
addresses the fake news in the media.
Fake news is already there though it may look new to other people, the way
it was spread was the only thing that changed. It is because social media is the latest form
of communication used by people. It will be easily abused by those who wanted to spread
lies and misinformation.

Theoretical Framework
Our research's summary of our theory goes as above. Fake news that came from the
social media users is read at the same time as the other social media users which causes
its spread to the listeners and the people who might be able to receive the deceitful
information.

CHAPTER III:
METHODOLOGY

Research Method
This research was done by doing some observations ont he internet and by
gathering information and cases reported at the news. Also, exposing ourselves to the root
of the issues, that is, the social media. We have also gained information from our
surroundings where we hear about fake news and deceptions on the modern day media.
Research Locale
This research was conducted inside the AMA Computer College - Pasig
Campus where students are highly emerged in technology and online.

Sampling Method
We gathered respondents from the campus to answer valuable questions
in our survey for this research. They are the following, anonymously:
RESPONDENTS BACKGROUND
Student A Students, which composed most of the
Student B
users of social media and those who are
Student C
Student D very prone to fake news and the ones who
Student E would easily believe in one.
Adult A Adults who also use social media but had a
Adult B
better knowledge about everything. Though
Adult C
Adult D they might be able to obtain such
Adult E misinformation.

Instrumentation
We used check boxes as the way if answering our survey. In that way, it
would be easier to tally out the number of persons that were being affected by these
issues.

Data Gathering Tools

Our survey tool form of a printed questionnaire being distributed to the
following persons above. Each given a piece of paper to answer easily and honestly.

Statistical Analysis
 Our respondents has been divided into two groups and so were given a total
of five each section. The number of those who answered a particular choice would be
multiplied by 20 to match five as the 100%.

no. of who chose an answer x 20 = percentage of those people who chose that answer
(ex. 2 [no. of those who chose "yes"] x 20 = 40%, this means 40% of the respondents chose "yes" as their
answer.)

CHAPTER IV:
PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA

Sub Problem No. 1

"Do you believe in news and information found on social media?"
RESPONDENTS YES NOT AT ALL
Student A ✔
Student B ✔
Student C ✔
Student D ✔
Student E ✔
TOTAL 2 or 30% 3 or 70%
 RESPONDENTS YES NOT AT ALL
Adult A ✔
Adult B ✔
Adult C ✔
Adult D ✔
Adult E ✔
TOTAL 1 or 10% 4 or 90%

As we could observe on the results, the most number who believes on social
media's contents are the students. 70% of the students do not believe in the information
on the social media, while 90% of the adults or almost all of them do not trust the
contents found there.

Sub Problem No. 2

"How often do you encounter fake news on social media?"

RESPONDENTS FREQUENTLY SOMETIMES

Adult A ✔
Adult B ✔
Adult C ✔
Adult D ✔
Adult E ✔
TOTAL 4 or 90% 1 or 10%
 RESPONDENTS FREQUENTLY SOMETIMES
Student A ✔
Student B ✔
Student C ✔
Student D ✔
Student E ✔
TOTAL 2 or 30% 3 or 70%

The results shown above, 30% of the students encounter fake news
frequently while 70% of them receives false news sometimes. The adults frequently
encounters fake news with a percentage of 90% and those sometimes had a percentage of
10%.

Sub Problem No. 3

"How do you think fake news spread easily?"
OPINIONS STUDENTS ADULTS TOTAL
Social Media's Pace 3 0 3
Abuse of the Users 0 2 2
Interesting Details 1 0 1
Cycle of Sharing 1 0 1
Data
Do not know 1 3 4

Based on the respondents, they think the cause of the spread of fake news are
the pace of social media itself, the abuse of users and its interesting content. Some also
think that the spread of fake news had a cycle, where an individual thinks that the deed
was fun to do that leads them to be the new spreader of such false information.
 CHAPTER V:
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

Summary of Findings
In the first question's result, the adults had the most number of those who do
not believe in the contents of the media, while the students had the least. This will lead us
to the conclusion that, adults were more aware what the social media contains and they
know better about what to believe and what to trust. The second results proves that the
adults had more knowledge about fake news and knew if they were encountering one
while browsing on their social media accounts. The number of students just proven what
was shown above, their lack of awareness that makes them more prone to fake news. For
the opinions' case, there are a lot that claims that social media is a factor of spreading
fake news because of its fast pace where information can reach whoever or wherever an
individual could be. While mostly does not really know or care about how the misleading
news spread. A respondent also mentioned about a cycle where if a social media founds
that his or her work was interesting or fun, others may want to do it, leading to the
outbreak of various fake news.

Conclusion
Therefore, people believe so much in the contents of social media because it
is fast and easy to use especially nowadays. Also, being updated by the means of social
media puts an individual a step in being sociable for their own peers. Those news from
the social media are produced by its users itself as they find it entraining to see their
fellow users pick up their false stories and even share them as long as they find it
controversial and interesting, they kept sharing it until it is spread throughout the media.

Recommendation
The social media is very convenient and full of contents that are useful to
everyday life. Thus, everyone must be responsible for what are they posting for the sake
of the other users who rely on the social media as their references. News, public
announcements and other important information must not be posted as much as possible
at the social media unless it is posted by someone who was authorized to spread such
news. We thank those who had helped us through this research, our fellow students, our
adviser and our parents who gave us their full support over this activity.