Concern is growing that future Australian elections could be influenced by the rise of fake news on social media.

Key points: Facebook has announced measures to target fake news of the kind prevalent during the US election period

Facebook has announced measures to target fake news of the kind prevalent during the US election period Australian commentators say fake news is likely to play a bigger role in coming elections

Australian commentators say fake news is likely to play a bigger role in coming elections The problem is particularly acute for younger Australians who consume all their news online

Facebook is the latest online company to announce measures to crackdown on false news reports, which were prevalent during the recent US presidential election.

Examples included a bogus claim that the Pope had endorsed Donald Trump's candidacy.

Australian social media commentators say fake news has already been used in Australia and is likely to play a bigger role in coming elections.

Technology commentator, Paul Wallbank, said it was particularly difficult for social media algorithms to determine when articles were genuine.

"The real problem for Facebook is how do you determine what's fake news, what's satire," he said.

"What's fake news today could well turn out to be a real story tomorrow.

"You could have something that's breaking — what's the difference between rumours and news? What's the difference between satire and real news?"

According to Mr Wallbank, fake news has already been circulating on social media here in Australia with stories generated by supporters of the anti-halal movement, for example.

He said the US election had demonstrated the power of fake news, and he had no doubts it would be increasingly used in future Australian elections.

"We're going to see increased use of if not fake news, then selective reporting of news — fake groups on Facebook and so on," he said.

"You're seeing all manner of pressure groups, political parties and so on creating these fake groups and using those to really push their agenda.

"This is a problem that is not going to go away, and if anything, we're probably going to see it get worse over the coming years."

Fake news attracting 'huge' audiences

Social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter provide levels of access to news that would have been unimaginable in previous generations.

Facebook is now a global giant in the new world of media.

In the US, an estimated 44 per cent of people get their news there.

Nicholas Reece, a public policy expert at the University of Melbourne, said social media did have some significant downsides.

"Some of these fake stories are attracting huge audiences online, we've got the data to prove that," he said.

"Many of these stories attract vastly bigger audiences than actual real news stories."

The problem is particularly acute for younger Australians who no longer turn to traditional forms of media like television, radio or print.

Sydneysider and 21-year-old Maisie said all of her news came from online sources like Facebook.

"I follow [on Facebook] an equal amount of what I think might be biased reporting and then what I think is pretty unbiased," she said.

"And so news reporters and then blogs, and then just trying to even it out and see what they say."