“Pope Francis shocks the world, endorses Donald Trump for President! WikiLeaks confirms Hillary Clinton sold weapons to ISIS!” Both statements are bold and shocking, but they are fake. The fake news story about the Pope endorsing Donald Trump for President picked up 960,000 engagements on Facebook, while the story involving Clinton’s alleged business deals with ISIS generated around 780,000 engagements, according to Buzzfeed. These fake news stories, along with many others, have been a common sight on many social media websites during and even after the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election. Many voters with strong biases toward a particular candidate would like, comment, and share a post that would hurt the reputation and credibility of the other candidate, no matter how questionable and reliable the source was. It is clear that the Presidential Election of 2016 has enhanced the political division in the United States. As a result of this division, many fake news articles were shared and liked, no matter how outrageous the claim. Fake news has been around for many years, and it was never a major concern that some false articles were floating around, because they never became popular. However what was alarming about the fake news resulting from the 2016 Presidential election, millions of people would believe these fake news articles. Because of this, it is essential that American voters know what exactly fake news is. We must also know how fake news has become so popular, so that we can learn how to prevent it in the future. It is clear that we cannot prevent every fake article/story from being published, so we must know how we can spot fake news as well. 

We have heard President Donald Trump and many others repeatedly say the term, “fake news.” But what exactly does the term mean? Forrest Stroud, the editor of ServerWatch, defines fake news, or hoax news, “as false information or propaganda published under the guise of being authentic news. Fake news websites and channels push their content in an attempt to mislead consumers of the content and spread misinformation via social networks and word-of-mouth.” President Trump along with many of his supporters would claim news organizations such as CNN, MSNBC, CBS, and many others were fake news. Many people claim that Fox News is also fake news. Sometimes news organizations misinform the American people by stating the wrong facts that were initially believed, but this is not done on purpose. However, many news organizations tend to have a bias politically, and this often makes readers and viewers unaware of the full context of the issue, but this is an argument for another day. President Trump has made it clear that any news media that disagrees with his agenda will be deemed fake news. This, however, is not the true definition of fake news. Just because you disagree with the position a news channel has made or what was written in an article, does not mean you can classify it as fake news. The article/production must contain false information. 

Fake news dates back hundreds of years ago. It was common for news to be not entirely accurate, however the lack of technology gave good reason for that. But today, with the internet, people can research topics from around the world. Many different news forums are posted for all to see. With this advancement in technology, the amount of content existing online today is more than ever before. With the large content on the internet today, there are many sources that purposely distribute fake news articles. During the Presidential Election of 2016, the number of fake news articles increased, and many articles became popular on different social media websites. As previously stated, there has been fake news before in previous decades and even centuries, but what made fake news so popular in 2016? There are a number of reasons behind this. For starters, the 2016 Presidential election was the first real election with a large social media involvement, as Marissa Lang noted in her article, 2016 Presidential Election Circus: Is Social Media the Cause:

“This election has been the first “significant” social media influenced election. Among 18-29-year-olds, nearly two-thirds said social media is the most helpful means of learning new things about politics, according to a study conducted by the Pew Research Center. Overall, The Pew Research Center found that 44% of Americans said they learned something new in one week in April during the primaries through social media.” (161-163)

By using social media as a main source for gathering news information regarding the election and political affairs, people were more exposed to fake news articles, rather than if they watched a news channel or got their news from a reliable source. Many people believed fake news articles, even the ones with absurd titles and claims, but many had good reason to. Many of the fake news articles online were crafted and created in a way that made it look like it was from a reliable source. Some websites would make small changes even in the title to make it sound like a reliable news source. An example of this is ABCnews.com.co. This website’s URL looks like it says ABC News, but the articles and content posted on this website is much different than what is actually posted on ABC News. Small changes like this seem to not be a problem for many people to spot out as fake, but for many viewers, this was a small enough change to appear believable. 

Another reason why fake news has become so popular is because there is money to be made when writing fake news articles. With every view, like, and share, the writer of a fake news article can make a nice profit. Paul Horner, a fake news writer told the Washington Post that he makes close to $10,000 a month from Google AdSense. He said, “The money comes from ads, provided by the self-service ad technology of companies such as Facebook and Google” (Ohlheiser). With the profit that can be made by creating fake news articles, many people have a reason to write them, even when they know doing so might convince many people the fake information is true. 

A third reason why fake news has become so popular in 2016 is because of the political party bias that exists today. Amanda Taub, a reporter from the New York Times, says that “Partisan bias fuels unreliable news because people from both parties: Republican and Democrat are bad at figuring out what news stories to believe. Instead, they trust instant articles/news stories as if they were reliable.” Today, there is a strong political bias between both parties. With the 2016 Presidential election, we saw how divided many Americans are regarding party lines. This also has a strong link to the rise of fake news. Many people who are very passionate and one-sided about a particular party or presidential candidate will typically believe a story that will hurts their opponent’s credibility. When most people see an article about a candidate, which they do not support, they will not typically care to research about the article, because it hurts the opposing candidate, and they agree with the article. Many Americans have become more trustworthy when it comes to viewing articles and believing their content. As a result of this trust, we have seen a rise in the popularity of fake news articles and stories. 

With the increasing prevalence of fake news articles, the American people must be able to recognize and spot fake news articles when they see one. Some can be simple to spot, while others might be more challenging. The Washington Post made a short video detailing steps on how to spot fake news. The video explains that to do so, a person should double check the URL. By double checking the URL, a viewer can figure out if a website has an abnormal URL, rather than have an official URL such as .org, or .gov. The video also suggests how to spot whether or not a photo is photoshopped. Most photoshopped photos can easily be checked by typing a description of the photo in a search engine. By searching the details of the photo, a person can find the original picture before it was photo shopped most of the time. You can also find where the image was posted by copying the image’s link / URL and searching it using Google Images. By searching this, a person can find the original location of where the image was published. Another step people can take to spot fake news is to check the original source that is in the suspicious article. Some fake news articles will have a link in the article itself. By clicking on the link, a viewer can see if it is a legitimate article or a study. A final step that can help people spot fake news is to download extensions similar to an application for verifying if articles/website’s legitimacy.  One extension that does this is B.S. Detector, “a Chrome extension that ‘warns users about unreliable news sources.’ The software makes it easy for you to identify fake or even satirical news sites, plus sources of questionable reliability” (Bolluyt). Another application / website that can help spot fake news stories and false statements made by politicians is Politifact. Bolluyt explains that instead of flagging questionable sources, the Pulitzer Prize-winning application / website enables you to check the statements made by politicians, political pundits, or other people on the internet.” (Bolluyt) 

While it is important for viewers to be able to spot fake news, reporters also must be able to spot out stories that have false information, so they will not misinform the public. Alexios Mantzarlis, a notable Poynter fact-checker wrote an article, which explains six tips to debunk fake news stories to help reporters try to debunk news stories. Mantzarlis first tip is to “do no harm.” Mantzarlis explains how reporters should first look if they are sharing fake rumors or stories themselves. This is an important first step for reporters to look at. Today, many people do not trust sources from the internet and rely on news that is provided on television. It is crucial that reporters do not spread a false news rumor. One mistake can cause distrust between viewers and a reliable news source. Mantzarlis’s second step is to use custom searches. Custom searches can be used to get to more specific sources and articles. Many times, fake news websites and articles are not complex and are generally very broad. The use of a custom search on an internet browser will limit the amount of simple, general articles and news stories, and will show news stories that are greatly detailed and more researched. A third tip to debunk fake news is to learn the basic aspects of photo-checking. Some fake news articles and rumors have photoshopped photos attached to the article. Like previously stated in the article about The Washington Post video, most photoshopped photos can easily be checked by typing a description of the photo in a search engine. The fourth tip that Mantzarlis has is to not rush into believing that you are an expert at debunking fake news. Fake news authors are constantly adjusting to the news world. The methods that they use to draw viewers in is constantly changing. It is important to not consider yourself as an “expert” of determining what is and what is not fake news. Because of this constant change it is vital that people do not get comfortable with what is and what is not fake news without proper research. A fifth tip is to find someone on the ground or who is involved in the activity. Whenever a major storyline is announced, many rumors will spread. Reporters and even regular citizens can gain vital information by contacting someone who is involved with whatever event is taking place. This can help eliminate many rumors that are spread whenever a major storyline is released. A sixth tip that Mantzarlis explains is to not expect to reach everyone. If you are a reporter, you should look at how much information you have on a subject and determine what you would like to explain in your article or report. Even though you should desperately try to contact everyone that you can, you will not contact everyone you want. Because of this, reporters should explain everything in their article that is correct and definite and to not try and determine something based on assumption. 

While it is important to spot fake news, we must have a solution to prevent most fake news articles. Social media has been a major factor with the rise of fake news, and many social media sites are taking the fight to reducing the amount of fake news content on their sites. A recent video published by the Wall Street Journal explains that Google has banned fake websites from using Google’s ad selling system, which will hurt the fake news website. This will hurt the website by preventing a large amount of revenue coming to the authors and website. In a previous article, we looked at how fake news articles can earn large amounts of money based on the number of views, likes, shares, and comments. This is a smart way to prevent fake news from becoming popular. Facebook, which was a large factor in the rise of fake news articles in the 2016 Presidential election, is also stepping up to prevent fake news posted on its site. “Facebook’s ‘trending topics’ box will now only feature stories that have been covered by a significant number of credible news outlets, a move meant to stop the spread of hoaxes. The company also said that topics would no longer be personalized to individual users.” (Perlberg) With Facebook doing this, this will prevent the amount of views that a possible fake news article will generate. By doing this, it will be less likely for a fake news article to become popular. 

According to a Fox News Poll, “A large majority of voters, 84 percent, are at least somewhat concerned fake news is “hurting the country.”  That includes 61 percent who are “very” worried and another 23 percent who are “somewhat” concerned.” (Blanton) While this poll shows how many people think that fake news is a problem, some claim that fake news is not a problem and it should not be prevented. Michael Rosenblum, Founder of CurrentTV and former President and Founder NY Times TV claims that fake news is not a problem. Rosenblum states in his opinion piece, posted on The Huffington Post, before the advancement in news technology, the news/media in the U.S. was controlled by a certain group of people. After the internet, the term free press was literally “free.” On the internet, people can write anything they wanted ranging from different biases, to different positions on an issue. As a result of the internet, the news was not controlled by a corporate group of wealthy individuals. With Facebook trying to control the content posted on the social media site to prevent fake news, Rosenblum explains that this is an attack on free press and fake news is not as big of a problem as it seems. It is true that this can seem like this an attack on free press, but in reality, fake news is truly a problem, allow me to explain why. With the amount of engagements that fake news articles have, it is clear that these articles are popular. These articles are seen by millions of people, and even though many people know what is fake news, there are many people who do not and many who do not care. With the political bias that currently exist in the United States, people are not caring what is and what is not true. As long as the posted content attacks an opposing candidate or another party, most people will share without even researching the topic. People have become very trustworthy with the news they see, and this could potentially increase the current political division that we have today. Most fake news articles tend to have a bias regarding a certain party. If we do not label and try to solve this fake news stories we have today, America could become so divided that we cannot get anything accomplished. It is clear by the votes of congress during the confirmation the different cabinet positions of President Donald Trump, that is the United States is divided over many issues. By stating that fake news is not a problem would be discrediting thorough research and journalism, and increase the bias that exists today. Preventing fake news is not an attack on free press, rather that it is clarifying what is and what is not facts. Free press is not being attacked, rather it is rewarding the use of thorough and complete journalism and awarding those who thoroughly research.

Fake news is a clear and present problem in the United States today. As Americans, we must come together without bias regarding political party and policy to decrease the amount of fake news. We cannot simply eliminate all fake news content, rather we can decrease the amount of fake news content by making articles and false content less profitable. Websites and social media sites can also limit the amount of false content on their sites by having fact checkers run through articles that are not known to be reliable. Any article that was not checked or reviewed shouldn’t be eliminated, but should show that it was not verified. There are many ways which we can decrease the amount of fake news, but it all starts with the people. As Americans, we can accomplish many wonderful things if we worked together. It seems that the United States is divided today and fake news could be a potential catalyst for the bias that is present today. By reducing the amount of fake news and educating Americans with what is and what isn’t fake news, we can start eliminating this political bias that is present today. 
