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Fake News: Politics and Fake News

2016 Primaries

Both sides were affected by fake news stories.

 
115 pro-Trump fake stories were shared on Facebook a total of 30 million times.
 41 pro-Clinton fake stories were shared a total of 7.6 million times.
 
 
 Alcott, H. & Gentzkow, M. (2017).  Social media and fake news in the 2016 election.  Journal of Economic Perspectives, 31(2), 211-235.

Cambridge Analytica

  • In 2014 Cambridge Analytica collected 87 million Facebook users’ data - without users’ consent.  The data was subsequently used to identify users’ political leanings and psychological vulnerabilities. 
  • Subsequently, fake news articles, videos, and websites were specially designed and tailored for various groups of Facebook users in order to elicit an emotional response and  influence their vote in 2016.