-The term sometimes brings to mind the way Donald Trump uses it to attack the media (NBC, CNN, etc)...

However, it's really an issue of made-up stories written to trick readers into agreeing with certain political views.

-Existed for a long time but became bigger recently because of internet

-Large factor in 2016 election, some people think it influenced the results

-Will be a problem in the future too

Satire: fake news made as a joke; not supposed to be harmful but sometimes people believe it

Sloppy journalism: false reporting made by accident; even the most credible news organizations can do it...

Biased news: news that appeals to the reader's viewpoint; present on social media where algorithms show users what they will like...

Clickbait: headlines that draw attention and get clicks and ad revenue...

Propaganda: misleading, biased, or false info to convince readers of something...

Ramses the Great, an Egyptian pharaoh from the 13th century BC, spread lies that a battle was a victory, when it was really a stalemate

-Ancient Rome, Octavian vs Mark Antony: he spread fake news making him seem like a drunkard, an idiot, and a generally bad person; led to his suicide

-1800s: newspaper called the New York Sun claimed that men with bat wings were discovered on the moon
Boosted their sales

Now I'm going to move on to modern fake news.

2016 election
Small city in Macedonia called Veles
Teenagers discovered they could make money by distributing pro-Trump fake news on Facebook
Ran ads on their posts to make money
Knew that they were affecting American voters, but didn't care because it didn't affect them and they got money
More people could pick up on this strategy in the near future

Major source of fake news in 2016
Many people posted their own fake news on it
Even more people shared fake news they saw on it
Leading up to the election, top 20 fake news stories had 8.7 mil engagements, vs top 20 real news stories w/ 7.3 mil
They have taken steps to stop fake news since election, but it's still not enough

Became a major topic
Trump began to use it to describe media/news orgs
Before this, fake news was thought of as pro-Trump, so this reversed the narrative

Here are some causes and key players of fake news.

Obviously, people who write for political reasons: want to convince that something is good or bad

People who write for money: like the Macedonian teenagers; don't care about the damage they cause; often use sensationalist headlines to get clicks; run ads for money

Social media: ideal place for fake news to spread b/c it can be seen and shared easily; not many rules; even less before 2016

What type of damage does fake news do?

Influences public opinion: that's what it's meant to do; researchers at Yale and MIT proved exposure=belief; public is more likely to believe if it is more widespread

Less obvious result: loss of confidence in real reporting; documentary The Fourth Estate showed NYT at Conservative Political Action Conference; people were hostile, called them enemies; Wapo: abundance of fake news=harder to know what's real=distrust of credible sources; unfortunately, wapo says this also makes a greater possibility of electing incompetent or corrupt leaders

Researchers developing AI to detect possible fake news and other manipulated content like doctored videos
Multiple types in development; one model uses info on how fake news spreads (more shares than likes, etc.), compares that to what it sees, then compares w/ other criteria (key words, etc.)
Traces fake news back to its roots to find more
Compiles data related to what it finds
Gives everything it finds (articles, source origins, data about topic) to journalists and fact-checkers to help them do their job more efficiently

True that tech isn't always reliable
AI would only identify possible sources of fake news; humans would manually verify

Fake news is spread by being shared by readers
More skeptical population=less spread, less who believe
Digital literacy should be part of English curriculum starting in elementary school so children know not to trust everything we see on internet

Even though it would take a long time for these children to become adults and for this change to affect us...
Once this happens the effectiveness of fake news would decline dramatically
There are more immediate solutions, but we need to think ahead too.

Social media is big way fake news is seen
Better rules+enforcement on platforms (instagram, etc)=less spread
Facebook has taken steps to get rid of fake news, but they and other companies should do more about it and make it a top priority, especially with the election around the corner
Should also change how news is shown; need a less biased newsfeed

Some say censoring fake news=violation of freedom of speech
Companies aren't bound by the first amendment
Social media platforms already do censor things that go against their principles.
Ban on fake news=beneficial and necessary