Ahead of the European Parliament elections in June, fake news is becoming increasingly prevalent online. DW Fact Check explores four examples of how cybercriminals are spreading disinformation.
That's oversimplifying it. There's a difference between a politician being untruthful of what they promise or some corporation doing some bullshit PR about how much they love cause X and coordinated fake news campaigns to stoke anger and emotions to undermine functioning systems.
The former have to at least try to present with a straight face and can be called on their lies a few month down the line.
The later can make up all manner of bullshit and don't have to hold back, because they have no "public face" other than that piece of fake news. And they don't have to be able to stand up to any amount of journalistic scrutiny because as soon as enough people have read it, it's had its effect: it doesn't matter if it's all proven to be made up after the fact, because the emotions that the initial reaction raised are the whole point: they are not trying to convince anyone about any facts, all they want is to influence emotions and behaviors.
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