A Story About Almost Becoming an Echo Chamber

It all started when I watched a program on Fuji TV called "Nanda Kore! Mystery" that introduced an interstellar object called 3I/ATLAS.

3I/ATLAS is an object that flew in from outside the solar system. It seems to be something different from a comet, and while it is currently behind the sun and invisible, it is said to reappear around December and make its closest approach to Earth.
What gives this story credibility is that a renowned professor at Harvard University suggested it might be an artificial object. Indeed, based on the laws of planetary motion and gravity that we know, the orbit of this object is too tricky, which gives rise to the artificial object, or UFO, theory.

I, who am dying to meet an alien, fell for this story hook, line, and sinker.
When I looked it up on YouTube, several videos popped up.
Watching them, I found claims that the object is making unnatural orbital corrections or that its orbit cannot be explained by conventional scientific theories (artificial propulsion).
Then, as usual, YouTube "You must like videos like this" started recommending 3I/ATLAS-related videos one after another.
Since I like them, I ended up watching them.
Then, they claimed that while this object has a tail like a comet, the tail is extending toward the sun instead of away from it, or that it is made of unnatural minerals, or that since every country's observation satellites should be tracking it, the fact that NASA and other countries are silent means something is going on, and finally, that Elon Musk is using his own satellites to monitor it and calling for global vigilance.
At this point, I really started to think it might be a UFO.

Precisely because I became interested, I checked with ChatGPT.
It said it could not confirm any reliable information that Elon Musk had mentioned 3I/ATLAS.
I also checked with Copilot, but it said,
While it is true that there are descriptions online stating that Musk and Trump mentioned 3I/ATLAS, one should be cautious about their credibility and official nature.

In other words, while I cannot say for sure, the possibility of it being a hoax is extremely high.
Furthermore, the statement by the renowned Harvard professor mentioned earlier was not about 3I/ATLAS, but about another interstellar object that came before it, Oumuamua, and it referred to the slight acceleration (non-gravitational acceleration) observed when Oumuamua moved away from the sun, which could not be explained by gravity alone.
However, there are even YouTube videos claiming that this professor is issuing a warning. This is also a hoax.
Moreover, it is said that no non-gravitational acceleration has been observed for 3I/ATLAS.

When you think about it, as the YouTuber says in their own video, if space agencies around the world are silent on this matter, how could a mere YouTuber know such information? The story is clearly contradictory.
It is full of lies.
However, people are easily deceived by the conspiracy theorist's trump card: "The government is hiding it on purpose!"
If you are exposed to only these kinds of videos, you might indeed think 3I/ATLAS is a UFO.
But in reality, it is full of lies.

The intentions of these creators are as follows.
First of all, the information available regarding 3I/ATLAS is limited.
However, they realize that posting videos and articles on this subject earns a significant number of views.
Once they know it is popular, they decide to make more videos and articles about 3I/ATLAS.
But there is no more material left.
That is where fabrication comes in. In other words, a hoax.
I doubt every YouTuber is creating and spreading hoaxes. Most of them seem to be surfing the net, gathering material, and making videos. But naturally, there must be some source material that is spreading fabrications while knowing they are hoaxes somewhere.

I was almost about to look forward to December, thinking I might be able to meet an alien (though there is no harm in waiting...), but I do not really want to expose such shameful parts of myself.
In short, is it okay to be danced around by such hoaxes? is what I want to say.
Or rather, I want to say that such hoaxes could lead to a situation where the country is divided.
Certainly, the country will not be divided by such UFO stories. But it is a fact that such hoaxes are rampant on the internet.
Recently, existing media are mocked as old media and are losing trust, but it is even more absurd to believe such information on the internet.
It is strange to believe it just because someone says the media is hiding it or the media is intentionally not reporting it.

If you ask what the creators of these videos are thinking when they make them, it is to earn views, nothing more. In other words, to make money.
They might be creating videos and articles without even knowing if they are hoaxes.
As long as they can earn views, that is all that matters.
Such videos and articles are overflowing.
They post videos saying the world is ending soon, a nuclear war is about to break out, or Japan is sinking, and then ask you to subscribe to their channel.

Should our daily lives be swayed for the sake of a very small number of people making money?
In fact, this July, there were cases where foreign tourists decreased due to predictions of Japan sinking, and some celebrities even appeared saying they would leave Japan (though this was likely just a stunt).
This, too, apparently started because Japanese YouTubers posted videos about it because it was profitable, and a famous fortune teller in Hong Kong who noticed it then posted it on their own social media.
It is clear that the cause is the spread of social media for the purpose of views.

If it were just that level, it would be fine.
Situations where elections are swayed by this hoax information are actually happening.
Regarding elections, there is an intention to manipulate public opinion rather than just making money, and this can be called organized manipulation rather than individual money-making.
The structure is that individuals inadvertently jump on this and it gets spread.
In fact, it has been concluded by investigations by US intelligence agencies and Special Counsel Mueller that there was Russian social media manipulation in the presidential election during the first Trump administration.
In Japan, too, based on the reflection of the Hyogo gubernatorial election where the aforementioned hoaxes flew about, countermeasures against hoaxes have become an issue among candidates and the media in the subsequent House of Councillors election.

Confirmation bias makes people want to hear only the information they want to believe.
Even if it is a hoax.
Immersing oneself only in information from a preferred world and refusing to acknowledge others is called the echo chamber phenomenon.

The problem is that there are people who spread it knowing this.
It might be the work of Metron Seijin aiming to divide Earthlings.
But if it were the work of a certain country aiming to weaken Japan...

And—when I wrote this,

Some would say, "It must be China!"
Others would say, "It is obviously America that is controlling Japan!"
And others would say, "No, no, it is Russia!" and so on, and opinions would undoubtedly be split into two or three.
And so,

there is no way for a third party to persuade them
.Because everyone believes they are the ones who know the truth and have no doubts.This is truly an echo chamber.

Nowadays, if you ask AI, you can usually tell the truth or falsehood of information.
Of course, as noted in the warnings, information from AI might not be accurate. Even so, it is far better than information spread by some unknown person.
Once again, I want to appeal for the necessity of fact-checking using AI.