Abstract:

The article is focused on the role of media organisation myths in a crisis related to dissemination of fake news. In the post-truth era, fake news contribute to the verification of operations undertaken by organisations. The analysis is aimed at the identification of relations between media organisation myths and the fake news crisis on the example of Facebook and Google, and also at the verification of a statement claiming that (…). Facing the fake news crisis, new media organisations have become involved into detection and elimination of fake information with the use of enhanced algorithms which select content and manage visibility of users. New media organisations have also appealed to their users (and to other media institutions) for help in the identification of fake news. Such an intervention in the social discourse means assuming responsibility for distribution of content and also self-destruction of a myth related to omnipotence and to the neutral character of an organisation which is supposed to act only as an intermediary connecting people and providing best answers to their questions. It refers to myths which fit into the concept of the 6^th estate of media (the power of the media algorithm) which was presented during the 12^th World Media Economics and Management Conference in New York^[1]. Such an explicit correction is followed by another one: a change in the social interpretation of Facebook and Google which cease to be viewed as neutral technological organisations, and they become media organisations which are burdened with responsibility to verify content presented to their users.