"When confronted with the claim that fake news on Facebook influenced the election results, Mark Zuckerberg's initial reaction was denial. However, as critics have pointed out, to say that Facebook does not influence people is to tell advertisers that they are wasting their money on Facebook. While this might be the case, Zuckerberg cannot consistently pitch the influence of Facebook to his customers while denying that it has such influence. One of these claims must be mistaken."
"While my own observations do not constitute a proper study, I routinely observed people on Facebook treating fake news stories as if they were real. In some cases, these errors were humorous as people had mistaken satire for real news. In other cases, they were not so funny as people were enraged over things that had not actually happened, such as Trump's lies about migrants."
"As president elect, Trump has continued to spew untruths and the attacks on the mainstream media continue and have even escalated in his second term. The ecosystem is ideal for fake news to thrive. As such, it seems likely that while the fake news will decline to some degree, it will remain a factor as long as it is influential or profitable."
BuzzFeed's analysis showed fake news stories outperformed real news stories in 2016. Mark Zuckerberg initially denied that Facebook influenced election results, yet claiming no influence conflicts with selling influence to advertisers and creates a logical inconsistency. Many Facebook users treated fake news as real, sometimes mistaking satire for true stories and sometimes becoming enraged over fabricated claims such as false reports about migrants. Public figures and pundits repeat fake news acquired from Facebook and other sources. The political environment and continued attacks on mainstream media create an ecosystem where fake news can thrive. Facebook's massive distribution drives click-based profits for fake news sites, raising moral concerns about platform accountability.
Read at A Philosopher's Blog
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