The presidential election finally ended, but one of its hallmarks shows no sign of disappearing. Fake news stories increased markedly during the election campaign.
Purveyors of fake news have learned they can easily create websites that look like real news outlets and quickly spread bogus news through Facebook, Twitter and other social media networks. Although most fake news stories usually focused on politicians during the election, companies and nonprofits have reason to worry that they too will be the victims of fake news.
Some of the Many Examples
Some fake news reports collected by the Washington Post include:
Hillary Clinton will be indicted.
Clinton’s campaign chairman dabbles in the occult.
A postal worker in Ohio is destroying absentee ballots cast for Trump.
President Obama is considering fleeing the country if Trump wins.
Donald Trump is dead.
A Dust Cloud of Nonsense
Even President Obama complained of the “crazy conspiracy theorizing.”
“If they just repeat attacks enough, and outright lies over and over again, as long as it’s on Facebook and people can see it, as long as it’s on social media, people start believing it,” President Obama said at a rally in Michigan, according to Business Insider. “And it creates this dust cloud of nonsense.”
A BuzzFeed News analysis found that both right-wing and left-wing Facebook pages published false or misleading information.
Hundreds of fake news websites exist. While some mix satire and misinformation, some deliberately imitate real newspapers. The web publishers earn money, sometimes sizeable amounts, through online advertising.
“We’ve had stories that have made $10,000. When we really tap in to something and get it to go big then we’re talking about in the thousands of dollars that are made per story,” Allen Montgomery, founder of The National Report, told the BBC.
Mainstream media sometimes repeat the fake news stories. Fox News host Sean Hannity shared a story about President Obama and the First Lady deleting tweets that endorsed Hillary Clinton. Hannity later apologized for reporting the false story.
Stronger journalism and fact checking is the obvious solution, but media companies will likely continue to reduce their staffs and pressure reporters to write more articles that attract clickthoughs.
“A fake news website might publish a hoax, then because it’s getting social attention another site might pick it up, write that story as though it’s true and may not link back to the original fake news website,” Craig Silverman explained to the BBC. “From there it’s a chain reaction until at some point a journalist at a largely credible outlet might see it and quickly write something up, because many journalists are trying to write as many stories as possible and write stories that get traffic and social attention. The incentive is towards producing more and checking less.”
What Fake News Means to Brands and PR
Businesses and nonprofit organizations may not be immune to the proliferation of bogus news. Pranksters, activists and malicious websites will become increasingly like name corporations and well-known nonprofits in fake news articles. Companies have been targeted by fake press releases in past. Wire services once mistakenly released the fake press release “Obama Orders Full Investigation of General Mills Supply Chain Following Food Recalls.” Although GM quickly found and removed the information, false information can spread quickly on the internet.
Real-time news and social media monitoring can immediately send alerts when a client’s organization, brand or products are mentioned online. Because most fake news stories circulating on social media originate from fake news websites, it’s critical to use a media monitoring tool that monitors the thousands of known fake news sites.
Early detection enables the organization to issue take down notices, circulate denials, and take other appropriate actions to rebut the story and minimize damage to the corporate reputation.
Bottom Line: The spread of fake news that gained traction during the campaign shows no sign of slowing, and corporations and nonprofits may become increasingly susceptible to bogus news reports. Constant vigilance can help organizations spot fake news stories at the onset of publication and before they spread on social media.
William J. Comcowich founded and served as CEO of CyberAlert LLC, the predecessor of Glean.info. He is currently serving as Interim CEO and member of the Board of Directors. Glean.info provides customized media monitoring, media measurement and analytics solutions across all types of traditional and social media.
