In today’s Money Morning…fake news from the frontlines is worse than ever…a meta way forward…the next big thing…and more…
When it comes to war — any war — misinformation is a major problem.
Trying to discern what the hell is going on amidst a battlefield isn’t easy, even for reporters who put themselves squarely in the line of fire.
In today’s day and age, though, fake news from the frontlines is worse than ever…
Take Ukraine, for example. I’m sure you’ve probably heard about the 13 soldiers on Snake Island by now — a group of men who apparently told a Russian warship to: ‘Go f**k yourself’.
According to Ukrainian President, Zelensky, all 13 of these men died for their defiant words and actions. Consequently, he decided to honour these soldiers for their heroics, stating:
‘All border guards died heroically but did not give up. They will be awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine posthumously.’
Trouble is, we don’t know if they’re actually dead…
The State Border Guard Service of Ukraine even responded a few days after this story broke, suggesting that all 13 men were likely still alive. This is a fact that has been corroborated by Russian media, showing the men as captured, but alive and well.
As for which narrative is true, no one really knows.
And we may never know.
Because in our era of social media, the truth may be the biggest casualty of all.
A meta way forward
I’m sure many people think that simply ridding the world of social media would solve this fake news problem. After all, it never really seemed like a problem prior to Facebook, Twitter, and all the rest.
That’s part of the issue, though, in my view.
Things may have seemed better, but whether it actually was is another matter entirely.
More information, not less, is how we tackle this problem — relying on a multitude of voices, opinions, and channels to come to the best conclusion possible.
And one technology that I believe will help with all this is the metaverse…
I know that may sound counterintuitive at first, Facebook is, after all, the biggest tech company pushing to make the metaverse happen, even going so far as to rebrand their company around it.
Don’t get fixated on this, though.
The metaverse is more than just a new platform for Zuckerberg to profit from.
A proper metaverse will be like an entirely new internet — one that you don’t view through a screen on your computer, tablet, or phone, but experience with a proper headset.
It will offer us tools to create entirely new ways of viewing and interacting with information — technology that is still only now just starting to scratch the surface of what’s possible.
I liken what is being developed in the metaverse now to the first web forums of the late ‘90s and early 2000s. This is back when sites and platforms like the Delphi Forums and MSN Messenger were the defining social media of the time.
That’s how early we are into the metaverse’s potential.
It’s a prototype for new digital ideas and solutions to thrive in. And while these experiences may leave a lot to be desired right now, they will eventually pave the way for much bigger things to come.
Don’t be surprised if the metaverse produces new counterparts to Facebook, Twitter, or TikTok — platforms that will be just as ingrained to this web 3.0 as these social media icons have been to web 2.0.
The next big thing
Now, the reason why I believe the metaverse could help our fake news problem is because of the principles it is built upon. The entire web 3.0 is designed with and around another big tech trend: the blockchain.
And while crypto certainly is still the focus for a lot of blockchain technology, it isn’t the only one.
The immutable and decentralised properties of a blockchain can work just as well for media sources — allowing us to hopefully sift through the disinformation and get to the bottom of things.
Again, it is still early days for a lot of these concepts, so we’re yet to see how well they will work. But at this point, almost anything is better than what we have now.
I have high hopes for the metaverse, though. And I think you should too.
Because regardless of whether you think it’s dumb or not, it’s the future that’s coming for all of us.
It is exactly for that reason that investors need to stay on top of it. Not just to stay as informed as possible, but also because of the huge wealth opportunities it will present.
Our forward-thinking duo — Ryan Dinse and Izaac Ronay — have even started to deconstruct this massive opportunity. Not only digging into what this future may look like, but also a handful of metaverse stocks that are worth buying right now!
Seriously, no matter what you think of the metaverse — good or bad — you need to read their thoughts. Because even if you don’t plan to invest in this polarising technology, you can’t afford to be ignorant of it.
Do yourself a favour and read what Ryan and Izaac have to say, right here.
At worst it’ll inform you of what is in store for all of us in the years to come.
At best, it could help position you for a very successful investment future…
Regards,
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Ryan Clarkson-Ledward,
Editor, Money Morning
Ryan is also the Editor of Australian Small-Cap Investigator, a stock tipping newsletter that hunts down promising small-cap stocks. For information on how to subscribe and see what Ryan’s telling subscribers right now, click here.
