We’ve seen fake news for a long time now, and unfortunately it reared its ugly head in the days and hours after the Las Vegas massacre.
There were stories posted on social media about the shooter; how he was a liberal targeting country music fans. There were stories linking the shooter to ISIS. None of these stories have proven to be true.
The problem according to political analyst Jacquie Baly is that Facebook and Twitter aren't checking to make sure these stories are legitimate.
“Unfortunately they are not doing their jobs. They are supposed to fact check to make sure these things are correct,” Baly explained.
And that has led to a big problem because more of you look to social media to get your news as opposed to the mainstream media.
“A majority of us are now looking at social media to get our news, because fake news is abundant at CNN and MSNBC,” Baly explained, adding that when fake news gets posted on social media it can spread like wildfire.
Facebook was asked how this happened again, and a spokesman blamed the postings on algorithms.