## 4.3 Growing distrust

The biggest danger of fake news is that you may lose your trust in experts, the government and traditional news media. As a result, you no longer know who or what to believe. And if you may no longer know what is and what is not true, it becomes very difficult to form a well-founded opinion and you may become more susceptible to disinformation.

With image manipulation and deepfakes there is also the possibility that you are convinced of something that never happened or something that someone never said, which can lead you to base your opinion on incorrect information.

People are more likely to believe something if it fits into their view of the world, and creators of fake news take advantage of this by trying to influence public opinion, incite hatred, or spread propaganda. This can have an effect on the way in which certain groups of people are viewed, which in turn can lead to the hardening and polarization of society.

Find out more!

Why is it so hard to distinguish real news from fake news? This video from Isdatechtzo.nl explains that:

What have we in the Netherlands noticed about the spread of fake news? What is the government doing about it and how can you arm yourself against it? You can see that in this video from WNL.