The Truth About Fake News

It has been 2 years since Donald Trump was elected America’s 45th president. And with that, the term Fake News entered the public consciousness in a big way. Why are fake news stories so pervasive, popular and problematic? Is it because, as some experts suggest, fake news supports a strain of tribalism, an us vs them world view where consumers use fake news to reject views they do not agree with? From Europe to Southeast Asia, we look at how social fault lines (race, religion, social class, nationalism) can be further widened by disinformation and what we are doing about it.