Fact in the Face of Fiction

Some of us may hold onto the belief that fake news is a relatively new concept that was created by modern journalists hoping to make a quick buck. The fact of the matter, however, is that fake news has been a staple of booming societies around the world for longer than newspapers and magazines have been published.

“The Long and Brutal History of Fake News,” published by Politico Magazine, beautifully highlights the intricacies of fake news stories throughout the world. Writer Jacob Stoll claims that, “[fake news] has been around since news became a concept 500 years ago with the invention of print – a lot longer, in fact, than verified, “objective” news, which emerged in force a little more than a century ago.”

As Mr. Stoll points out, before most local newspapers began to regularly circulate news and information to the public, there were still oral exchanges of news and gossip throughout many towns, cities, and countries.

Two extreme examples of this ever-present phenomenon we now call fake news range from extreme political tales to modern day claims by Mr. Donald Trump that former President Obama illegally wiretapped and monitored his actions during the US election of 2016. Both of these instances have caused unrest and violence throughout the societies that they spread through, promoting anti-Semitic, white-supremacy, and violent behavior.

The number of fake news stories that exist throughout history are fascination and worrying, each one having the potential to evoke anger and misunderstandings. Each story has its own twist and impact.

Living in the age of social media complicates fake news even further. Now, the impact of this fake news phenomenon has a new platform to spread and grow from. Unfiltered, anonymous, and unsourced information-sharing is at an all-time high. Countries, when manipulated by the right people, can be controlled by the uneducated masses, but the power is never truly in their hands. These people, who hear and share biased tales of misinformation only add fuel to the destructive fires set by those who seek power over them.

Jumping back onto the topic of the US Presidential election highlights the influence that fake news had on the outcome of the 2016 election. Candidate Trump, who had already established a large Twitter following, took advantage of the social elevation that Twitter offered him.

Mr. Trump’s popularity amongst extremist or uneducated voters benefited greatly from the influence and claims of “fake news” that Trump spewed during the election. This platform offered him unfiltered, widely viewed, and free advertising opportunities for his fight to become America’s 45^th president.

Donald Trump’s political platform was easily accessible to his followers, and his campaign flourished because of this accessibility.

Now, three months into Trump’s “success story,” there has been a noticeable escalation in the realm of fake news and the spread of misinformation. In some instances, there have been attempts by men like Mr. Trump who seek to high-jack the term “fake news” and twist its definition to suit their agenda. In the presence of darker forms of fake news, the picture of this new evil is slowly coming into view.

President Trump uses his position as the President to start fights, spread outright lies as truth, and create chaos wherever he chooses. And now, others like him are starting to take pages from Mr. Trump’s playbook. From North Korea, to France, to Germany, and Russia, foreign leaders are beginning to use social media, fear mongering, and manipulative tactics to assure their positions in power.

Now, fake news is spreading across the world at a break-neck speed, and the rest of the world is being swept up into the vortex of lies and confusion that follows these stories.

Poor and voiceless people are being left behind to fend for themselves. Multiple countries around the world are being molded and manipulated to suit the needs of the few at the price of peoples’ livelihood.

Since Trump’s rise to power, countries such as Germany, who will soon to be holding their own federal elections, and Italy, whose government officials use social media to share propaganda which supports their cause and invalidates or demonizes their rivals, are just two examples of the danger of unfiltered fake news.

The citizens of these countries are worried for their futures, and the escalation on fake news in America has allowed fake news on an international scale to blow up spectacularly.

When it began, it is doubtful that anyone could have plotted out the actual impact that the election of Donald Trump would have on the rest of the world. And the US Presidential election is just the tip of the iceberg.