What Does hoax Mean
The English term hoax is not part of the dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy ( RAE ), although its use is frequent in our language. The Foundation of the Urgent Spanish - Fundéu BBVA , however, suggests replace canard , hoax or fib .
A hoax, in short, is false news that is spread for some purpose. It is a lie that is made known as a truth so that people believe in its supposed veracity.
The broadcast of a hoax used to be done through media such as television and radio . In recent years, however, the Internet has become the ideal terrain for its spread. Social networks, email chains and comments on portals and digital newspapers are often the ideal means for those who want to spread fake news.
Generally, a hoax is not primarily intended to make a profit. Its purpose is to cause some kind of damage or influence public opinion with a political intention.
This kind of deception is common in electoral times . Suppose two candidates meet in a ballot . To harm the rival, from the campaign team of one of the leaders a hoax is launched ensuring that the competitor owns a mansion that he has never declared before the Justice and has millions of dollars in a tax haven. Both data are false, but the idea is to undermine the image of the candidate so that people do not vote for him.
To detect a hoax, experts suggest being wary of anonymous messages that do not cite a reliable source and that ask the recipient to share or forward it. When in doubt, it is best to eliminate the message and not contribute to increasing the scope of the fallacy.
This type of fake news can be spread by different means of digital communication, be it social networks, email boxes, forum communities or even instant messaging services. In WhatsApp, for example, it is very common to receive a malicious chain of messages, although it is quite easy to identify it to proceed to block the user or, if necessary, report it.
The first point to keep in mind when using any of these platforms is that not all suspicious content is in effect a hoax. We must remember that some genuine messages are not presented in the best possible way because their creators do not have a good handle on the program or because they have written it without paying attention to spell checking.
If we suspect the veracity of a message, we must be very cautious before taking a step, since being a hoax could also harm our contacts if we do not stop it in time. Although the Civil Guard and the Local Police treat this type of problem more seriously every day, we have a tool on the Internet that can get us out of doubts in a couple of seconds: our favorite search engine. If we have been recipients of a well-known fake chain, then we will know it by seeing the numerous complaints on the forums.
A common example of a hoax spread through WhatsApp is a warning about an alleged terrorist attack targeting public transportation. The body of the message can include the recommendation to avoid buses and the subway for a few days, something that could cause serious work or student problems for those who believe everything to the letter. If to this we add a background such as "I have obtained the information of a relative who works in the police", it is up to each one to decide whether to risk their life or their job. To avoid either of these two extremes, we must confirm the legitimacy of the message.