Information Cascades and “Fake News”
The concept of “fake news” and it’s potential influence on the 2016 US Presidential Election is highly debated. “Fake news” is false or biased information that is presented as legitimate by the media. Throughout the election, media outlets were filled with “fake news” with the intention of gathering support for their side and launching polemics to delegitimize others. Internet giants Google and Facebook have admitted that the Russian government has paid tens of thousands of dollars to run political online advertisements in hopes of altering public opinion with fake news and therefore influence the outcome of the election. Theresa May has flatly accused Russia of planting “fake stories and photo-shopped images” to compromise undermine Western elections, stating, “We know what you are doing.”
Information cascades as a result of fake news could severely influence the public perspective of election candidates, the legitimacy of the election, and even the ultimate outcome. Laws already exist that impose sanctions on foreign entities patronizing or disseminating election material through broadcast, cable, or satellite, but Google is now calling for this ban to extend to include online posts. Google also suggests that the ban should extend to indirectly political articles such as Russian-linked accounts spreading fake news on highly controversial issues such as immigration and police brutality.
Google’s concern with the prevention of foreign-controlled information cascades validates the power of a network concept in the modern world. The war of information between world powers is largely invisible, but its importance cannot be understated.