Fake Election Stories Outperformed Real News On Facebook

Fake News Outperformed Real News On Facebook During Home Stretch Of 2016 Campaign. An analysis by BuzzFeed News found that in the final months of the 2016 election, fake news stories generated more engagement on Facebook than did the top election articles from major news outlets:

In the final three months of the US presidential campaign, the top-performing fake election news stories on Facebook generated more engagement than the top stories from major news outlets such as the New York Times, Washington Post, Huffington Post, NBC News, and others, a BuzzFeed News analysis has found. During these critical months of the campaign, 20 top-performing false election stories from hoax sites and hyperpartisan blogs generated 8,711,000 shares, reactions, and comments on Facebook. Within the same time period, the 20 best-performing election stories from 19 major news websites generated a total of 7,367,000 shares, reactions, and comments on Facebook. [...] This new data illustrates the power of fake election news on Facebook, and comes as the social network deals with criticism that it allowed false content to run rampant during the 2016 presidential campaign. CEO Mark Zuckerberg said recently it was “a pretty crazy idea” to suggest that fake news on Facebook helped sway the election. He later published a post saying, “We have already launched work enabling our community to flag hoaxes and fake news, and there is more we can do here.” [BuzzFeed, 11/16/16]

Several People Close To Trump Played A Role In Spreading Fake News

Mike Flynn

Trump’s National Security Adviser Pick, Michael Flynn, Tweeted A Link To A Fake News Piece Claiming Hillary Clinton Is Complicit in Sex Crimes. Trump’s pick for national security advisor, retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, tweeted a link to a fake news piece alleging that emails revealed that the Clinton campaign was engaging in money laundering and sex crimes with children. As Politico noted, “no such emails have ever surfaced.”

​

[Politico, 12/5/16, Twitter, 11/2/16]

Donald Trump Jr.

Donald Trump Jr. Retweeted A Fake Letter, Appearing To Be Authored By “Hillary,” That Suggested The Clinton Campaign Was Bribing Pollsters. According to PoliticusUSA, Trump’s eldest son, Donald Jr., retweeted “a totally obvious fake Hillary Clinton email conspiracy” that “feeds his father’s unhinged narrative about rigged polls.”

[PoliticusUSA, 8/30/16; Twitter, 8/30/16]

Eric Trump

Eric Trump Tweeted A Link To A Fake Story Alleging That The Clinton Campaign Paid Protesters To Disrupt A Trump Rally, Adding, “Finally The Truth Comes Out.” According to CNN Money, Eric Trump tweeted a fake story that claimed then-Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s campaign paid individuals to protest a Trump rally. CNN Money pointed out that the story was from “a hoax version of ABC News":

[CNN.com, 11/1/16]

Michael Flynn Jr.

Michael Flynn Jr.: “Until #Pizzagate Proven To Be False, It'll Remain A Story.” Michael Flynn Jr., the son of Gen. Flynn and a reported member of the Trump transition team until recently, tweeted, “Until #PizzaGate is proven to be false, it’ll remain a story.” Flynn was referring to what The Washington Post described as “a false election-related conspiracy theory … claiming that then-Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and her campaign chief were running a child sex ring from the [Washington-based pizzeria Comet Ping Pong] backrooms.” The fake news about Comet spurred a man to bring an assault rifle to the restaurant to, as he put it, “self-investigate” the claims, the Post reported.

[The Washington Post, 12/5/16, Twitter, 12/6/16; New York magazine, 12/6/16]

Corey Lewandowski

Corey Lewandowski Tweeted A Fake Story Alleging The Clinton Campaign Paid Protesters To Disrupt A Trump Rally. Former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski tweeted the same fake article as Eric Trump that claimed protesters had been paid $3,500 to demonstrate at a Trump event. Lewandowski has since deleted the tweet, but PolitiFact posted it and debunked the claim, calling the story “fake news”:

[PolitiFact, 11/17/16]