大象传媒

From Sarah Joseph, Editor of a Muslim lifestyle magazine:

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The billionaire, Warren Buffett, celebrates his 87th birthday today.听 This week however saw a fake social media account, purporting to be the business guru, offering out sage advice in the form of lists encouraging people to 鈥渞ead and write more鈥�, 鈥渟tay healthy and fit鈥�, and 鈥渄on鈥檛 spend what you don鈥檛 have鈥�.
The rather simple, some may say bland, suggestions, soon attracted quite a following. Indeed, the fake account amassed over a quarter a million followers, before being suspended. A meteoric social media rise, helped no doubt by celebrities, including Kanye West, retweeting out its homesy advice.

The incident has now made the news, and I guess the important question is how were people so easily fooled? 听It had many of the markers of a fake social media account, not least a misspelled name!

One would think, in an age when we are warned to looked out for Bots and imposters, we would be a little more cautious. 听But given the quantity of posts that so many of us are bombarded with each day, it is little wonder that people don鈥檛 check the origins of every post they see.
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Sometimes the fakes are more obvious鈥� for example, this week I was sent a video claiming former Pope Benedict had converted to Islam. 听It showed an elderly gentleman who did indeed look just like Benedict performing the Hajj. 听听
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That was clearly dodgy, but more subtle misinformation can not only fool us, it can even enrage us, and lead to all manner of negative attitudes and actions.

The Qur鈥檃n warns us to fact check, saying: 鈥淚f a troublemaker brings you news, check it first, in case you hurt people unwittingly, and later are filled with remorse for what you have done.鈥�

Whilst the fake Warren Buffett produced inoffensive and positive lists of advice, that is not always the case, and so, I believe, in an age when fake news can spread like a fire on dry wood, it鈥檚 important that we follow the Qur鈥檃n鈥檚 advice, and check the information that comes our way, because truth is an important commodity.
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Meanwhile, as fake Warren Buffet says 鈥渇all and get back up again鈥� try again鈥� try new things鈥� laugh a lot鈥� make new friends鈥� take short naps鈥︹��
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I particularly like 鈥淭ake short naps鈥︹�� Real Warren, or Fake Warren, I鈥檓 following that one!

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