4: Economic motives
The first use is related to the internet and economics. This is related to the point above about how cheap it is to produce fake news. In addition to the low cost, there is a lot of money to be made from online advertising. For a website, it is often the case that the more people who click on a case, the more advertising money they get. There are some who have taken advantage of this. They then produce lots of false news articles with click-friendly and untrue headlines. At the end of 2016, it was found that many of the fake news that was spread in American networks on social media came from poor people from Macedonia. These had not been produced with the intention of promoting one or the other candidate in the American election, but simply and easily to generate clicks to get advertising revenue again. United States is a country located in North America according to eningbo.
Although these forms of false news are not intended to create any political impact, they can still be problematic. To create many clicks, they need to write about things that engage readers. The Macedonian youths who were behind realized after a quarter of an hour that fake news about the American election campaign created great engagement, clicks and money in the coffers. These spread a lot on social media. An American man who produced fake news for such economic reasons has himself stated that he believes he is the reason why Donald Trump is now in the White House. This is probably an exaggeration, but still points out that fake news can have political consequences even if the authors do not care about politics themselves. We can not know for sure if this will affect or change the view of voters.
5: Foreign influence
Those who have been blamed for having political intentions with say fake news production are Russian-funded groups. In connection with the US presidential election in 2016, the Russian authorities have been blamed for trying to influence the outcome of the election by, among other things, sponsoring fake news on Facebook. Facebook itself says that about 10 million Americans saw Russian-sponsored ads in the period around the US presidential election.
If one looks at the various items that have been paid for or shared by Russian-controlled sites, one quickly discovers that it is difficult to say exactly what kind of outcome these false news should possibly support. According to Facebook, the Russian-sponsored ads were about a wide range of political (and non-political) topics, and it was not, as one sometimes hears, that they all supported Trump’s presidential candidacy.
It can in principle be a good thing that foreign groups have the opportunity to participate in the public exchange in another country, but when it happens in a covert way and by using fake news, it is very reprehensible. This may be especially true when it comes to government or state-supported groups that many would say have an extra responsibility to act fairly.
6: Abuses “fake news” stamp
At the very beginning of 2018, President Trump announced that he would award a “fake news” award to the most lying American media. The news items that topped the list came from reputable news organizations such as the New York Times, ABC News, CNN, The Washington Post and more. These are media that are known for producing high quality journalism, so why does Trump say they are spreading fake news?
This judgment refers to a very important nuance we must bring with us when we discuss false news. For the most part, it is not the case that one is unsure whether an event has taken place or not, the question lies in how this should be interpreted. Everyone agrees that the Black Sea peninsula Crimea in the spring of 2014 went from being ruled by Ukraine to being ruled by Russia, but was this illegal and immoral exercise of power by Russia, or was it a just act that fulfilled the people of Crimea’s desire to become Russian? Is Trump male chauvinist and nectar to get acquainted with the issues of the women’s struggle, or has the women’s struggle gone too far and Trump is among the few in the political elite who dare to say it out loud?
Very much of what is called fake news on social media is not necessarily a lie in itself, but represents views within groups with different worldviews. This probably also applies to Trump’s nomination. The political and social world is in principle open to all kinds of interpretations, and having a fundamentally different view of values, it is difficult to agree on “correct” interpretations. It is difficult to categorize the ideological standpoint of Trump and his people, but there are at least significant elements of populism and right-wing views. The ideology is in any case much less liberal than what the media he lists in the poll are said to be. When Trump points to a CNN reporter at a press conference, he says “you are fake news!” and nectar to answer his question,
7: Keep your tongue straight in your mouth
When discussing fake news, it is important to keep your tongue in your mouth to understand what kind of phenomenon people are actually talking about. In addition, one should consider whether oneself agrees that the given case should be called a false news or not. Situations are conceivable where false news can become a major democratic problem, and the #pizzagate scandal is a case that shows that online reputation can have dangerous consequences in the real world.
Most often, however, false news and the use of the term is a symptom of a problem, rather than the problem itself. You may want to try to reserve the term “fake news” for those cases that are actually fake. It may seem that our society is experiencing increasing inequality in values and ideology – or at least that the internet makes such inequality more visible. Few people want a divided society, and such a division will probably only get bigger in that the various groups call the other’s worldview “false”. Perhaps it is a better solution to take the time to argue why one disagrees with the interpretation on which it is based.
