Fake news sites are websites that publish hoaxes, propaganda and misinformation with the goal of increasing web traffic through social media. It is a different – and more dangerous beast – than satiric sites like The Onion or The Beaverton – where humour is the objective and it is very clear that the commentary is intended to make one think and laugh at the same time.
In 2016, Facebook users learned that the pope endorsed Donald Trump (he did not), that a Democratic operative was murdered after agreeing to testify against Hillary Clinton (it just never happened), and that Bill Clinton raped a 13-year-old girl (a completely disgusting and utter fabrication), along with countless other bogus ‘news’ stories. A funny thing is that there weren’t many such stories about that other candidate, presumably because his comments were already largely fabricated and already outrageous enough.
Fake news thrives on Facebook because Facebook’s algorithm prioritizes engagement. A good way to get readers to engage is by making up outrageous nonsense. I love Facebook; it enables me to keep in touch with people all over the world who mean a great deal to me even though I may never see them again. And, as our house was one of the go-to places while our kids were growing up, I love to see how all of those now not-so-young lives are unfolding. But almost daily I question whether it is worth it after seeing one stupid claim after another being spread like wildfire.
False information and fake news have long been an Internet problem. The situation is so dire that one website, snopes.com (bookmark that one folks), is dedicated to debunking rumors and lies that pop up daily like digital cockroaches. It has become my personal bible.
According to various polls, more than half of North American adults say they now get most of their news from social media. It’s easy to dismiss people who get their news from Facebook, the clickbait that scrolls across the top of your web browser, and fake news sites as just plain stupid and/or too lazy to check out their sources but that isn’t completely fair. Should we all aspire to be investigative journalists each time we boot up the computer or sign in to Facebook? Shouldn’t we be able to accept things we read as being at least mostly true? And why do we believe – and pass on – material that hasn’t been vetted. Is it our responsibility to vet the ‘news’ we read?
I came across the word truthiness this week that I thought had just been recently coined. Turns out that late-night satirist Stephen Colbert came up with it 10 years ago to describe ideas that rely on suggestion or insinuation – things that feel right or should be right. Truthiness is the somewhat unreliable cousin of gut instinct. And we have it when we just feel that something is correct without having any facts or logic or science to support it.
We saw plenty of truthiness on display during the recent U.S. election when fact-checkers’ heads began to spin in trying to keep up with one particular candidate’s truly legendary lies that hit double digits every day and, on one memorable occasion, triple digits. The problem was that many people just did not care. They were and are content with truthiness. Hey, if it’s good enough that people are saying it then it’s good enough for them. In fact, he-who-shall-remain-nameless to me for awhile made that phrase his mantra and people ate it up.
I thought it was some new aberration but while the word has recently become a part of the modern lexicon, truthiness itself is not really new. Wing-nut Senator Joseph McCarthy’s witch-hunt against un-American activities in the 1950s caused the American public to enter a state of anti-communist hysteria so severe that innocent people were maligned, ostracized, blacklisted and, in some cases, imprisoned for things that never happened.
When George W. Bush was president, the belief that the attacks of September 11, 2001 were an inside job spread far and wide among left-wingers, and then became conventional wisdom in the Arab world.
One of the biggest fake news outlets is The National Reporter, which advertises itself as “America’s Number 1 Independent News Source”. The publisher ‘Allen Montgomery’ – not his real name – told the BBC, “There are times when it feels like a drug. There are highs that you get from watching traffic spikes and kind of baiting people into the story. I just find it to be a lot of fun.” ‘Montgomery’ continues in the BBC interview, “Recently we did a story about Hillary Clinton being fed the answers prior to the debate. There was already some low-level chatter about that having happened – it was all fake – but that sort of headline gets into the right-wing bubble and they run with it.”
Why would these hundreds of fake sites and thousands of clickbait headlines go to so much trouble? Some have an agenda such as affecting an election or ruining the reputation of someone they dislike, but mostly it’s just about the money. There are millions upon millions of dollars at stake.
While much of fake news is directed at the right-wing conservative market, the left-wing gets into it occasionally too. The story that the Pope endorsed Bernie Sanders was also fake. We lefties generally prefer conspiracy theories but the right-wing loves the made-up stuff. There’s a reason for that and it is no accident that Stephen Colbert’s truthiness model sprang from his satire of the American conservative right.
If we needed another example of how fake news can be truly dangerous rather than just annoying, we need look no further than at events of the last few days: a North Carolina man was arrested for firing a rifle in a popular Washington pizzeria where he believed a child trafficking ring, led by Hillary Clinton, was being run; he confirmed that he was motivated by a fake news story. That guy is just plain dumb and possibly insane to boot.
The fact is – according to some scientists anyway – that we have a predisposition for truthiness. The less effort it takes to process a factual claim, the more accurate it seems. And if it nicely slips into our existing belief structures then we snuggle right up to the comfort and familiarly of it and accept it and maybe even pass it along.
So how can we avoid believing things that don’t ask too much of us intellectually? The best tool is common sense. We’ve got it…let’s use it. No matter what your political bent, if a story serves only to reinforce your beliefs, it’s best to be extra skeptical before sharing it. If a report is purportedly based on other news stories, seek out the original source. If the potentially false story you’re reading doesn’t link to an original source, ignore it. Use a search engine to look for the keywords in the story to see if that ‘news’ is being reported by any other outlets. And check the URL. If it has a strange ending, tread warily. One article claiming President Barack Obama banned the national anthem at U.S. sporting events – false – came from a website with the suffix .com.de. If you are savvy enough to be on the Internet you need to recognize some obvious fakes.
Don’t believe your lyin’ eyes either. If you see a compelling photo and are just itching to share the story behind it, do this first: take a screenshot of the photo, cropping out everything but the image itself. Open up Google Images in your browser. Drag the screenshot into the Google Images search field. Google will tell you its best guess as to who or what is pictured and where the image originated.
Let’s just stop feeding our brains garbage: subscribe to a handful of reputable online or print newspapers and magazines for starters. If we don’t support real news, pretty soon all we’ll have is the fake stuff and our brains will turn to mush. And besides, shouldn’t we feel a bit ashamed that a con man like The National Reporter’s ‘Allen Montgomery’ gets off on using us to make millions for him while relishing our stupidity at the same time?
Following a career in the hospitality sector and the acquisition of a law and justice degree in her 50s, Dale embarked on a writing career armed with the fanciful idea that a living could be made as a freelancer. To her own great surprise she was right. The proof lies in hundreds of published works on almost any topic but favourites include travel, humour & satire, feature writing, environment, politics and entrepreneurship. Having re-invented herself half a dozen times, Dale doesn’t rule anything out. Her time is divided equally between Muskoka and Tampa Bay with Jim, her husband of 7 years and partner of 32 years. Two grown ‘kids’ and their spouses receive double doses of love and attention when she’s at home.
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Sharon Stock Feren says
This is so right, Dale. Is the ‘real’ news not enough to clog our brains, test our sanity and leave us questioning the state of our world? Where money is concerned I expect we will only get conned more and become less smart.
Mary Bennett says
Another great article, Dale. Always enjoy reading your commentaries.
Libby Charron says
Unfortunately common sense is not so common anymore. And, people who believe what seems incredulous are the ones with the least amount of common sense. Facebook was meant to be used as a tool to keep in touch and post ones own beliefs not a source of factual reporting. People love to read and believe negativity. Look at the amount of of gossip rags at the check out counters, that should give a good idea of what people read and believe.
Great reporting Dale.
James Simpson says
This article should never have been written. It has nothing to do with Muskoka or local news. This is recycled American deceit, propagated to small town Ontario. The fact that most civilians still can’t see that the mainstream media is blatantly lying to them everyday, and covering up every scandal they need to, is bothersome. If you still think the U.S. government had nothing to do with 9/11, you need to stop watching television and do some real research. WikiLeaks has delivered some of the most ground-breaking, scandalous, and important information to the general public, yet there are people do don’t want to believe it. You must be one of them. Why are all of these types of articles defending the Clinton’s so hard? Bill Clinton is a rapist and a pedophile, there’s plenty of information about that on the internet and it’s not “fake” news. Have you heard of Jeffrey Epstein? He’s a convicted sex offender and good friends with Bill Clinton. look it up. Have you read the emails? If they are really just talking about food, then some of those emails don’t make any sense? Have you seen the Comet Ping Pong instagram photos? Creepy and filled with pedophile/sexual innuendo.There are all kinds of signs pointing to something really horrible going on, any one of which should prompt an investigation. But the elites are protected. The real fake news comes from CNN, FOX, and all the major media outlets, newspapers included, who not only blow this story off, they actually go out of their way to squash it and take down the credibility of the alternative news media, which is now currently the only authentically investigated media. I didn’t think the Doppler had made it to such a large scale where they were now giving their “fresh” (recycled) version of American media lies, but its clear that the U.S. brainwashing/propaganda machine reaches all the way to Canadian cottage country. Obviously not EVERYTHING on the internet is true, but if you actually know how the whole game works, the elites of the world do not deserve the benefit of the doubt. But as long as everybody keeps believing what they see on the news, articles like this will keep being written, fuelling the fires of deceit. WAKE UP!