The Fundamental Roles of Technology in the Spread of Fake News

Abstract

Following the 2016 United States Presidential Election, fake news has been the subject of much discussion, research and, ironically, news. This chapter examines how technology enables the creation and spread of fake news stories through the democratization of creation tools, by exploiting the increasing difficulty of discerning between amateur and professional content through digital publication, and, arguably most significantly, through the indiscriminate curation of content through algorithms. These three technological factors together have exponentially compounded the spread of fake news by enabling creators with new opportunities for profit and influence and weakening readers' ability to effectively assess the value of the content they consume or share.