“Swiss Guard Charge Writhing Mass Of Black Tentacles Devouring Pope Francis”

“Investigators: First 48 Hours Most Critical In Locating Missing Children Who Entered Portal To Fantastical World”

That’s what fake news used to be: humourous satire from the likes of The Onion and The Daily Show. However in the wake of Donald Trump’s victory, a hot new definition has quickly gained currency: fake news that actually wants to be believed.

Hillary Clinton herself has called this fake news an “epidemic”, and the phrase gained sky-high popularity on Google’s search engine in the month before and after the US election.

Among the fictional headlines making the rounds: “Pope Francis Just Backed Trump” and “FBI Agent Suspected in Hillary Email Leaks Found Dead in Apparent Murder-Suicide”. No wonder some think faux reporting helped swing the election for Donald Trump.

It gets stranger when you ask where some of this “news” came from: Macedonia, a country an entire ocean away in Southeastern Europe. There in the small town of Veles, more than 100 pro-Trump websites are being run by teenagers who realised they could cash in, by capitalising on US political fervour. By publishing fake stories favourable to the firebrand, they gain instant readership and substantial ad dollars. While the normal average income in Macedonia is 350 euros, one intrepid pro-Trump hoax creator raked in more than 7,500 euros from ad revenue last month alone.

Meanwhile a major conduit of news (real and fake), the ever present Facebook, is feeling pressure from an unlikely quarter: Germany. A new law being considered would require Facebook to set up an local office, open all day to handle fake news and hate speech on its platform. And should an offending post not be deleted within 24 hours, a 500,000 euro fine could be levied against the company. With the German parliamentary elections coming in 2017, it seems the government is taking no chances with fake information swaying opinions – especially following recent (real) revelations that Russian intelligence may have already hacked key German portals, including government ones.

As the year draws to a close, it’s only fitting (though far from pleasant) following terrorism, war, celebrity deaths, Brexit, and Trump, that we end with false news peddled for profit.

How’s this for a New Year’s resolution? Do your part to stop the spread of fake news by adopting these online practices:

• Read critically
• Trace the quotes
• Check the primary source
• See if the article supports the headline
• Beware fake sites mimicking real news sites using “.com.co” (eg. abcnews.com.co)
• Check your own bias

By Vincent Tan