Weaponized Lies: Critical Thinking In The Post-Truth

Social media has undeniably become a prominent part of everyday life in recent years for most individuals, it has been widely beneficial, but gradually the detrimental effects of social media are also becoming apparent. It has enabled people to keep in touch with friends and family all over the world with the touch of a finger, as well as being able to keep individuals constantly aware and alerted of ongoing events and breaking news. Not only are people constantly being informed with news, but they also have the ability to spread vast amounts of information to large or small communities alike. This factor has broken the construct of only news organizations and journalists being able to post news stories. The upside to this is that people now
Viral fake news gets credibility now with millions of likes and shares, and it is almost impossible to distinguish the false from the truth because they all appear the same. There must be a recurring thought whilst reading this information about fake news and how prominent it is relating to the question why do people create, spread and believe fake news? The reason fake news is now becoming so familiarized is because in the past 2016 election it was a great phenomenon, and it is also where people began to profit the most financially by creating fake news. A prolific Facebook-focused fake news writer, Paul Horner, was asked how much money he made by making stuff up and putting it on the internet? “I make like 10,000 a month from AdSense,” was Horner’s reply (Ohlheiser, 2016). There is also a growing group of Macedonian teenagers who are now using fake-news sites as an easy way to make money off gullible Americans. The money is being generated from ads, provided by self-service ad technology from companies such as Google and Facebook (Ohlheiser, 2016). The process includes packaging articles under catchy new headlines, then paying Facebook to share it, and as likes and shares tumble in so does the revenue from advertising on the site. The stories were designed to be believed and spread. It is clear the teenagers don’t care the effect their fake news has on American voting, they only cared about receiving an income that bought expensive clothes and drinks. “Pope Francis Shocks World, Endorses Donald Trump for President, Releases Statement” is an example of a completely false story and even that article was shared more than 100,000 times on Facebook (Ohlheiser,