social media

As Scott recently point out, the recent U.S. election has been characterized by a deluge of fake news.  A concern about this phenomenon is that it distracts from the real news and entrenches readers in their prejudices through confirmation bias. 

According to a recent BBC report, the US election season has produced a bumper crop of fake news. Of course, people have been making stuff up and passing it off as genuine probably forever. But the BBC seems to be focused on two tech-related factors: social media and advertising, and less on the non-tech-related one: satire.