Three academic philosophers explored The Philosophy of Fake News this month in front of a capacity audience at SFU’s Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue. Coinciding with the American Philosophical Association (APA) Pacific division, the event was held in collaboration with SFU Public Square’s community summit--Confronting the Disinformation Age. The public philosophy session presented a philosophical toolbox for understanding and dealing with the onslaught of fake news in daily life.

Each speaker identified the philosophical underpinnings of how we react to and deal with fake news. Moving beyond academic exploration, each was able to pinpoint practical steps that the audience could take in day-to-day dealing with online news. These included being aware that hypervigilance could turn us away from contrary information, to simply turning off smartphone social media apps. After the presentation, the speakers fielded questions from a highly engaged audience for around 30 minutes; vigorous discussion continued during the reception that followed.

Endre Begby (Simon Fraser University) defined two senses of fake news, as fabricated fake news created to confuse and mislead, and as attempts to brand media outlets as fake news. He then spoke on epistemic vigilance, discussing whether fake news compromises the process by which people assess the veracity of news and its sources. In turning vigilance against itself, this hyper-vigilance could make people less receptive to contrary information. “Hyper-vigilance may well be the rational attitude to take in a highly polarized and politicized information economy, where we assume, as a default, that others are trying to manipulate me.”

Jennifer Nagel (University of Toronto) suggested that “caring enough about knowledge to come out to a physical lecture in the physical world” was a great first step in combatting fake news. To work out who to trust, we need in-person interactions that facilitate epistemic cooperation. We must also be willing to confront uncomfortable truths. Though there might be some feel good moments in sharing content online, there might also be a No Pain, No Gain scenario in getting to the truth.

Regina Rini (Canada Research Chair in Philosophy of Moral and Social Cognition, York University) broke down online discourse for the audience, suggesting ways to approach “wrong” people online. For example, although she acknowledged the existence of social media actors focussed on spreading fake news, she notes that labelling disagreement as the work of bots or trolls is not constructive. Rini also suggests accepting responsibility for news shared by checking sources before retweeting, for example.

The audience also wondered who defines fake news and wondered how certain groups seem to be ‘winning the fake news game’. It was suggested that some traditionally underrepresented or ignored demographics are more comfortable using deception as a tactic, justifying it through a belief in the inherent unfairness of their situation. One question asked why science was so badly affected with fake news, with the discussion circling back to the need to face uncomfortable truths in subjects such as medicine and climate change.

SFU Philosophy would like to thank the APA and SFU Public Square for their expert assistance in organising this event, and to the speakers for their valuable contributions.