The country is concerned nearly how intentionally false and malicious media, known as faux news, may have influenced many voters in the 2016 elections.  Enough, perchance, to have swayed it in a certain direction.

Russia has been fingered by some as a major thespian in the peddling of fake news and its possible manipulation of our elections and, as such, our democracy.  Citizens do not want to experience conned, particularly by a foreign ability.  And equally fake news, regardless of its source, is primarily distributed and proliferated via the net, social media users desire to feel secure that platforms, such as Facebook, properly screen sources and postings for brownie and accuracy.  No 1 wants to be conned.

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Graphic from ValleyNewsLive.com (Fargo, ND)

Oddly enough, there isn't much, if any, disagreement betwixt the losing and winning sides of the ballot every bit to the preponderance of fake news during the terminal cycle.  Where they disagree is to the amount of influence fake news substantially had on the result of the terminal election, if whatever at all.  Did fake news essentially influence the 2016 elections?

Proponents, those who believe the election results were substantively influenced by simulated news, such as supporters of the losing sides, were shocked over the surprising ballot results.  Certain of the polls and predictions which concluded that the victorious upshot of the ballot would exist handed to the democrats, the would-be losers are now at a quandary as to how exactly things didn't stop up quite as expected. Several credit the ubiquity of fake news and its upshot on susceptible swing voters as the master rationale the election went the fashion it did.

Supporters of the winning side of the ballot, the opponents, such as Trump backers and Republicans, as well as mouthpieces for the Russian government (such equally the RT news service), acknowledge the presence of fake news during the election, merely dubiousness it had then great an influence on the electorate that information technology derailed what the losers felt was an obvious outcome in their favor.  They believe that the other side's incompetence and inability to accurately gauge the truthful concerns of voters, especially those in the economically troubled swing states, are principally what set in motion Trump's victory and their defeat.

Proponents feel cheated and that they are victims of a concerted effort to intentionally denigrate and slander their candidate(s) with a barrage of negative memes and inflammatory false news specifically targeted at susceptible and swing voters.

Opponents trust that their acute agreement of the true needs of the voters is what garnered their winning border.  Proponents, they insist, are just sore losers, complaining about the sour grapes.

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Joe Concha                         (Image from Twitter.com)

Pundits for both sides of the question accept presented apparent evidence to support their views.  Joe Concha, writer for the conservative publication, The Loma, tells united states that although fake news favorable to Trump far outnumbered that favorable to Clinton, it actually had no considerable effect on the voters.  Citing a recent research study past Stanford and New York Universities, Concha claims written report information shows that a significantly large number of voters did not look to social media, the chief vehicle for fake news dissemination, equally a source for election news. And those who may were far less persuaded past the content.  Not enough voters were manipulated by imitation news enough to be of any significance. Russian mouthpiece, RT.com, cites the aforementioned study to back upward its position that imitation news had no effect on the ballot outcome.

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Former FBI Agent Clint Watt (Image from NPR.org and Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Recently, notwithstanding, Gabe O'Connor and Avie Schneider, in an article for NPR reporting on Clint Watts' March 30th Senate Intelligence Commission testimony, tell us that Watts "described how Russians used armies of Twitter bots to spread simulated news using accounts that seem to exist Midwestern swing-voter Republicans."  Tal Kopan, from CNN, cites the aforementioned testimony describing "a sophisticated Russian propaganda machine that specifically sought to bolster and influence President Donald Trump."

Proponents frame the issue as a deliberate, and ultimately successful, try to disparage 1 candidate (Clinton), turn voters against her and requite the victory to Trump.  An effort assisted in great detail with the assistance of the Russian regime. On the other hand, proponents cite studies from credible researchers which support their thought that fake news, regardless of its origin, had little to practice with the outcome of the election.

As almost of us already know, faux news was near everywhere last ballot cycle.  And if it actually had a substantial influence on this last ballot, then the very fabric of our free elections and democracy are at pale.  All the same, if simulated news is essentially more of an annoyance and less of a threat, information technology may affect voters' belief in any, and potentially all, news source media and people may no longer intendance virtually what is truthful and what is not.