Long gone is the time when journalistic ethics were the standard in all newsrooms and when all journalists reported based on the facts and the data they conducted.
Gossip has always been relevant, but today, like never before, it can spread at an unimaginable speed, thanks to technology.
Fake news or hoaxes are false information that spread online. They mimic legitimate news, but they are distributed only to deceive readers. With the help of social media, fake news serves its purpose faster than ever before.
ExpressVPN's report on fake news states that you shouldn't assume every fake news is about deliberate deception. Sometimes it can be used as a joke. Nevertheless, fake news can have a negative impact, especially on children and young adults as it can become difficult to distinguish between fact and fiction.
Notably, being associated with fake news puts people in a negative light, even though it comes with the territory of celebrities' life.
Here are five celebrities who topped the list of being associated with fake news in 2022 - according to ExpressVPN data and research.
Tom Brady Jr
American football quarterback Thomas Edward Patrick Brady Jr. is known as the greatest quarterback of all time.
He led his teams to a record seven Super Bowl victories. He and his wife, supermodel Gisele Bündchen announced in October 2022 that they had finalized their divorce after 13 years of marriage. That is one reason he was associated with fake news, along with the stories of his fortune after a crypto collapse, and rumours about his retirement. Last year, he was the celebrity with the most posts with fake news about his life and career.
Joe Rogan
Joseph James Rogan is an American U.F.C. colour commentator, comedian, actor, and podcaster.
Most people have heard of The Joe Rogan Experience, a podcast in which he discusses politics, current events, science, philosophy, and comedy, with various guests. He is second on the list associated with fake news for 2022, which reached 39,276,532 people online. Rogan interviews guests in his podcast, from respected scientists to controversial figures, and some share fake news.
Elon Musk
A business magnate and investor, founder and C.E.O. of SpaceX, C.E.O. and product architect of Tesla, Inc., founder of The Boring Company, president of the philanthropic Musk Foundation, co-founder of Neuralink and OpenAI, and owner and C.E.O. of Twitter, Inc, Elon Reeve Musk has an estimated net worth of around $139 billion as of December 23, 2022. According to Forbes' real-time billionaires list, Musk is the second-wealthiest person in the world and the third on the list of celebrities the most associated with fake news.
Musk has made various controversial statements on politics and technology this year, particularly on Twitter. His name was mentioned with "fake news" in posts reaching 26,660,800 people.
Tom Holland
Thomas Stanley Holland is an English actor.
At the age of nine, a choreographer noticed him during dancing class and arranged for him to audition for a role in Billy Elliot the Musical at Victoria Palace Theater. His international recognition began because of the role of Spider-Man/Peter Parker in six Marvel Cinematic Universe superhero films.
His relationship with Zendaya was the biggest news in 2022, and after they decided to avoid the spotlight, the speculations began that they had broken up. There was even more bizarre fake news around Holland that he had frozen to death after falling into a well.
Kanye West
Kanye Omari West is known for his rich career.
He is an American singer, rapper, songwriter, record producer, and fashion designer.
With 22 Grammy Awards and 75 nominations, he is one of the best-selling music artistes, with over 160 million records sold.
Rolling Stone included six of West's albums in the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list, naming him one of the 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time.
A fun fact is that he and Bob Dylan hold the joint record for most albums topping the annual Pazz & Jop critic poll.
As a fashion designer, he led the Yeezy collaboration with Adidas and also collaborated with Nike, Louis Vuitton, Gap, and A.P.C.
It's not a surprise that Kanye is in fifth place on the list for being associated with fake news. He faced intense criticism for anti-Semitic comments and for voicing conspiracy theories.
Final thoughts
We live in a digital world where information is at our fingertips every moment. The Internet has enabled us to do something unimaginable before. It is a matter of seconds from the moment we ask a question to the time we find the answer.
We only have to enter what we are interested in into the search engine. Nevertheless, it gives a huge space for the spread of information that is not accurate or verified, and without knowledge of data search, you can easily fall into the trap of fake news.
