We live in an age where truth is no longer sacred. Every scroll floods us with influencers, bloggers, and self-proclaimed experts, each bending facts to chase clicks and cash. In this chaos, one question haunts us,how do we know what is real?
The internet was meant to be a library. Instead, it has become a carnival loud, glittering, and deceptive. In the scramble for attention, facts are twisted, half-truths are packaged as headlines, and the line between information and manipulation vanishes.
The internet was supposed to democratize knowledge.What began as a noble promise of connection now thrives on distortion. Content creators twist facts, bloggers sensationalize headlines, and algorithms amplify the outrageous. In this digital marketplace, truth is no longer currency, attention is. Social media rewards speed, not accuracy. Outrage spreads faster than reason. Researchers at MIT even found that falsehoods spread six times faster than the truth on Twitter. Lies are dressed up as entertainment, shocking, emotional, irresistible. A blogger may not care whether a health cure is real, only whether the headline promises a miracle. A YouTuber chasing monetization will package conspiracy theories because they keep viewers hooked. A political troll understands that outrage is cheaper to produce than facts. In the economy of attention, honesty is unprofitable.
But misinformation isn’t just an abstract problem it costs lives. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Nigerians died because they trusted WhatsApp forwards about herbal cures more than doctors. When fuel subsidy was removed, filling stations hiked prices overnight, not because the old petrol had suddenly become more expensive, but because of viral rumors and panic posts on social media. In the 2023 elections, deep tribal divisions were fueled by fake news on Twitter and Facebook, with people believing lies about entire communities because it came from accounts they trusted. Even daily life isn’t spared. Parents are misled by self-styled wellness gurus online. Young people fall for Ponzi schemes pushed by influencers flaunting lifestyles they can’t afford. The result is that trust erodes, communities polarize, and people can’t even agree on what’s true anymore.
Part of the problem is that everyone now feels entitled to be an expert. A charismatic personality with a ring light can command more trust than a seasoned journalist. An Instagram post can outweigh years of peer-reviewed research. When authority is measured in followers, not facts, who wouldn’t choose performance over truth? This democratization of voice is both blessing and curse. It gives everyone a platform but it also drowns the voices of those who actually know what they’re talking about. And when everyone is a reporter, no one is.
The death of truth in the marketplace of clicks.
We are not starved of truth, we are suffocated by it.
Some will argue that misinformation has always existed. True. But never before has it been this fast, this global, this relentless. A false story once took days or weeks to spread. Now it takes minutes. Worse still, the digital trail it leaves is nearly impossible to erase. The erosion of truth has real consequences. Democracies rely on informed citizens. Healthcare systems rely on public trust. Economies rely on transparent information. Strip away truth, and all these pillars wobble. This isn’t just about fake news it’s about the survival of trust itself.
So what do we do in this carnival of chaos? We must demand accountability from platforms that profit from misinformation because controversy drives engagement. It is time they shoulder the responsibility of curating accuracy, not just amplifying virality. We must build media literacy as seriously as we teach math or science. Children should grow up knowing how to fact-check, how to spot clickbait, how to question before sharing. If not, they’ll inherit a world where truth is extinct. We must also slow down. In a culture of instant shares, the greatest act of resistance is to pause. Ask: Who benefits from this post? Where’s the evidence? If in doubt, don’t share.Content creators themselves must remember the ethical weight of their platforms. A blogger or influencer may not think of themselves as a journalist, but their audience treats them like one. With reach comes responsibility.
Truth isn’t hiding. It’s drowning in the noise.
The problem today isn’t lack of truth it’s that lies scream louder.
Truth no longer dies in silence. It dies in the crowd.
We scroll past truth every day, but click on the lie because it entertains.
Truth is still here. We just don’t reward it anymore.
The greatest enemy of truth today isn’t censorship. It’s distraction.
Truth competes in a marketplace where attention, not accuracy, is the currency.
The truth is too patient for the internet
In the storm of content, truth is just another whisper.
We are living in an age of information overload, but ironically, that excess acts as a new form of censorship. The sheer flood of voices drowns out clarity.
And so the challenge before us is urgent, will we choose the easy thrill of clickbait, or the harder discipline of truth? Will we value attention over accuracy, or will we fight to protect facts in a world that profits from their distortion?
Truth today is like a candle in a hurricane. It will only survive if we guard it together.
We don’t live in a post-truth world. We live in a click-first world.
When everyone is an expert, expertise dies.
Falsehood is fast food, truth is a slow meal no one wants to wait for.
Misinformation doesn’t need to be true. It just needs to be entertaining.
Nigeria doesn’t just have a fuel crisis or an election crisis. We have a truth crisis.
The share button has become the new ballot box every click shapes reality.
We are not drowning in lies. We are drowning in half-truths dressed as facts.
Outrage is cheap. Facts are expensive. Guess which one goes viral?
When filling stations hike prices because of WhatsApp rumors, you know misinformation isn’t harmless.
Truth today is no longer sacred. It is negotiable.
If we don’t reclaim truth from the jaws of algorithms, the future won’t be defined by facts but by the loudest lies we choose to believe.
The next time your thumb hovers over the “share” button, remember this, you’re not just spreading information, you’re shaping reality.
Truth today is like a candle in a hurricane. It will only survive if we guard it together.
Stephanie Shaakaa
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