International Fake News

Fake news websites are created to do one thing- publish propaganda and hoaxes. They often use social media to bring in web traffic often for some type of profit. Each country has their problems with fake news, especially as democracy becomes a bigger topic each day. For example, in 2015 there were accounts of false information about immigration and terrorism spread on the day to day basis in Sweden. According to Mikael Tofvesson of the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency, negative “rumors” about Sweden was spread daily by Russians. The Russian propaganda was in hopes to spread pro-Russian messages and to also create splits in society.

Facebook and Google have more recently started making efforts to end fake news by focusing on the advertisements that give these writers so much money. By decreasing, or completely blocking advertisements on these webpages, it gives these malicious writers less of an incentive to post false news for the world to see. In the 2016 presidential election between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, accounts on Facebook were blamed for swaying some of those voters by misinforming them. For example, the viral post that claimed Donald Trump was endorsed by the pope. Another popular post claims Denzel Washington is a Trump supporter, and celebrity endorsement is known to  swindle voters often at times.

These fake news sites are usually registered under a domain name that is VERY similar to ones of famous news outlets to trick people into thinking that the information is legitimate and the source is reputable. Though there are debunkers who are professionals at avoiding fake news being published and staying published, the amount of fake news writers on websites such as Facebook (where it is easier to post articles about fake news and broadcast it to many people at once) may overpower them. Banning ad revenue from fraudulent websites may not be enough to end fake news.