# Source of Fake News Stories found...

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/source-of-fake-news-stories-found/772332>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [November 18, 2016, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/source-of-fake-news-stories-found/772332 "2016-11-18T15:53:27Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Me\_Billy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e480ec/32.png) [@Me\_Billy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Me_Billy)\
**Post date:** [November 18, 2016, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/source-of-fake-news-stories-found/772332/1 "2016-11-18T15:53:27Z")

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Quote: “Honestly, people are definitely dumber”  
“Facebook fake-news writer: ‘I think Donald Trump is in the White House because of me’”…

> **[Facebook fake-news writer: ‘I think Donald Trump is in the White House...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2016/11/17/facebook-fake-news-writer-i-think-donald-trump-is-in-the-white-house-because-of-me/)**
>
> The man responsible for many of this year's viral political hoaxes thinks he may have swung the election.

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**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\
**Post date:** [November 18, 2016, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/source-of-fake-news-stories-found/772332/2 "2016-11-18T17:27:39Z")

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Thread relocated from IMHO to MPSIMS.

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**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\
**Post date:** [November 18, 2016, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/source-of-fake-news-stories-found/772332/3 "2016-11-18T17:38:17Z")

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thanks. fascinating read.

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**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\
**Post date:** [November 18, 2016, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/source-of-fake-news-stories-found/772332/4 "2016-11-18T17:43:05Z")

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[A report that fake news ‘outperformed’ real news on Facebook before the US election suggests the problem is wildly out of control](https://www.businessinsider.nl/fake-news-outperformed-real-news-on-facebook-before-us-election-report-2016-11/?international=true&r=US)

[But, a team of students programmes 'solved Facebook’s fake news problem in 36 hours, and have made their solution open source:](http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/38013285/students-solve-facebooks-fake-news-problem-in-36-hours)

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**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\
**Post date:** [November 18, 2016, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/source-of-fake-news-stories-found/772332/5 "2016-11-18T18:13:45Z")

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[Buzzfeed reported on the prevalence of fake news on Facebook](https://www.buzzfeed.com/craigsilverman/how-macedonia-became-a-global-hub-for-pro-trump-misinfo?utm_term=.ncZxx8nJlR#.wlkAAOz0l5) a week before the election; but ironically, continued fake news pushed it out of the spotlight.

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**Author:** ![Me\_Billy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e480ec/32.png) [@Me\_Billy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Me_Billy)\
**Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/source-of-fake-news-stories-found/772332/6 "2016-11-19T16:04:30Z")

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> [@Maastricht](#):
>
> [But, a team of students programmes 'solved Facebook’s fake news problem in 36 hours, and have made their solution open source:](http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/38013285/students-solve-facebooks-fake-news-problem-in-36-hours)

That is wonderful!

Actually some good may come out of this election. Maybe best to deal with these issues now (selfishness, misinformation, etc.), then our country won’t get too far out of whack as people will have learned what happens when these things occur.