The Truth About Fake News
After the U.S. election, the small town of Veles, in Macedonia, was identified as the source of a huge number of fake news sites and social media posts and accounts. In December 2016, the BBC and others wrote about how some boys in the town had realized they could earn thousands of dollars by posting clickbait. As the election developed, they found that Trump’s followers were more likely than Hillary’s to click on inflammatory headlines, so they switched to attacking Hillary. They said they generally had no interest in politics or who won the election; they just found Trump supporters more likely to click on their fake memes and earn them money.
When this story broke, and Trump won the election, there was much wringing of hands in Silicon Valley at Facebook, Twitter, and Google. The effect of these Macedonians—and, of course, the Russians—on the election outcome was talked about, and Facebook, Twitter, and Google tried to reign in the proliferation of fake news. Never again, we were told, this was under control. Lessons had been learned, public apologies made, and that is where the story was meant to have ended. In February, Facebook said it was acting to stop fake news from featuring in people’s feeds. But its actions seem to be about how fake news is prioritized and shared, rather than just deleted.
