PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Two stories that are still developing—the fires in California and the death of fact-checking on social media platforms—may have a powerful impact on our region and the country.
The wildfires sweeping though Los Angeles are a gruesome sight to the rest of the country. And as they have expanded—embers carried on fast-moving winds across a wide and highly populated area, water supplies unable to keep up with demand—they have offered stark warning to people and government agencies everywhere.
Just this last fall, the Philadelphia region had beautiful weather and a long drought. Almost every community in our area had restrictions to prevent fires. Can you imagine the high winds we had just a few days ago during a drought and what kind of damage they could bring in the event of a wildfire?
Now it’s important for our leaders in our area to examine everything that’s happening in California so they can better understand what we might face. This disaster, one would hope, could prompt more regional plans of cooperation in our three states.
Another national story needs to be monitored carefully. Mark Zuckerberg, owner of Meta, which includes Facebook and Instagram, plus 17 other companies, announced he was eliminating fact checking on the social media sites.
Most people view Meta’s move as a surrender to President-elect Donald Trump, who despises fact checking, but it's more than that because all political views can be hurt.
Eliinating fact-checking is a green light for all political messaging to turn into misinformation. Of course, one way to battle this: If you are MAGA, Democrat, right, left, center, Independent, or whatever, you can fact-check on your own.
One of the real dangers of the fact checking controversy is a stat from the Pew Research Center. Although they favor newer social media sites, 17% of teenagers use X, Elon Musk's freewheeling, anything-goes social media site, and more than 30% use Facebook. Will these kids be victims of lies and not realize it?