Effects of Fake News on Elections
Fake news such as manipulated videos could be a big challenge in 2020. Fake News and
“deepfakes” can weaponize false information that could influence electorates that a specific
contender did or said something he/she did not do or say. For instance, in 2018, Jordan Peele
generated a video that conjured to show the former head of states Barack Obama insulting
President Donald Trump in a speech (Greengard, 2019). Fake news can damage the reputations
of politicians and certainly impact constituent sentiment, making them extremely risky, yet
“powerful.” If there exists a horde of fake news throughout a poll campaign, electorates could
become skeptical about the aptitude to tell fact from falsehood. Skepticism can lead to apathy,
low constituent turnout, and cynicism with the whole political structure (Dice, 2017). Also, fake
news can change the voting choice of enough individuals, and this would affect the election.
Facebook and Twitter can halt fake news by distracting economic inducements as a lot of
fake news is financially driven. They can do this by investing in tools that categorize fake news,
decrease monetary incentives for individuals who profit from misinformation, and increase online
answerability (Timmer, 2016). For customers to stop fake news, they should follow a range of
news sources, not just one source, and be skeptical of what they watch and read. For the younger
users, they first need to be educated on the impacts of fake news to the public and taught not to
be quick to share any news before they confirm its authenticity from other diverse sources.