Cheng 1

Kevin Cheng

Professor Colombo

UWRT 1104-007

26 February 2017

What is the Effect of Fake News and How Should It Be Contained?

What is fake news and what impact has it had in 2016?

How can individuals react to fake news?

How can fake news affect foreign countries?

What has been done against fake news?

Why do people create fake news?

Works Cited
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What is fake news and what impact has it had in 2016?

Writer Angie Holan and her research team, defines fake news as made-up stuff,
masterfully manipulated to look like credible journalistic reports that are easily spread
online to large audiences willing to believe the fictions and spread the word (Holan).
She also states that the two Presidential candidates and their supporters have caused a rise
in the spread of fake news.

Some notable fake news subjects during the Presidential Race were:
o Hillary Clinton running a child sex ring out of a pizza shop.
o Democrats want to impose Islamic law in Florida.
o Thousands at Trump Rally in Manhattan chant, We hate Muslims, we hate
blacks, we want our great country back again.

Although fact-checkers deemed that Trump has said more false statements, the exit polls
on Election Day revealed that Americans felt both Clinton and Trump were about equally
dishonest and untrustworthy (61% to 64%, respectively).

A few professionals have agreed that fake news may have influenced the election
process. It has caused uncertainty, and/or people to support a candidate based on fake
news on the rival candidate.

Apple CEO Tim Cook stated that fake news was killing peoples minds (Glacer), and
that tech companies needed to launch a campaign against fake news. He believes that
tech companies have the tools to curb fake news, and that the best method to use is a
massive public-service announcement campaign.

These sources suggest that fake news has negatively affected events, most recently the
Presidential Race. A few experts; professors, a former CIA officer, and a tech giant CEO, have
called for prevention methods of fake news.
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Works Cited
Bohn, K., Allman, D., & Clary, G. (2016, December 5). Gun-brandishing man sought to

investigate fake news story site, police say. Retrieved from

http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/04/politics/gun-incident-fake-news/

Holan, Angie Drobnic. PolitiFact's 2016 Lie of the Year: Fake news. PolitiFact, 13 Dec. 2016,

www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2016/dec/13/2016-lie-year-fake-news/.

Glaser, April. Apple CEO Tim Cook says fake news is killing peoples minds and tech needs

to launch a counterattack. Recode, 12 Feb. 2016,

www.recode.net/2017/2/12/14591522/apple-ceo-tim-cook-tech-launch-campaign-fake-

news-fact-check.

Wakabayashi, Daisuke, and Mike Issac. In Race Against Fake News, Google and Facebook

Stroll to the Starting Line. The New York Times, The New York Times, 25 Jan. 2017,

www.nytimes.com/2017/01/25/technology/google-facebook-fake-news.html?_r=0.

Westcott, Ben. Duped by fake news story, Pakistani minister threatens nuclear war with

Israel. CNN, Cable News Network, 26 Dec. 2016,

www.cnn.com/2016/12/26/middleeast/israel-pakistan-fake-news-nuclear/.