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JEDDAH: Websites peddling fake news are increasingly gaining traction online, with more and more people sharing bogus stories online, media experts say.
Such sites typically carry sensational news that seems to be true — but is far from it.
Yet many of those behind such sites hope that — should their stories go viral — they will make a very real profit thanks to the advertising bucks that web traffic brings.
The most mendacious of this breed are dupe versions of real websites — such as a hoax version of ABC News that ran a story about a "paid" protester at a Donald Trump rally.
The story was on a site made to look like the real ABC News — but, on closer inspection, is clearly a pretender. But at least one high-profile person — Trump’s son Eric — did not notice, and reportedly tweeted a link to the bogus story, apparently believing it to be legitimate.
Fake news stories are easily digested by readers as they are seemingly professionally written, with quotes and names of spokespeople, and catchy headlines. They look so convincing that — for many readers, at least — the idea of checking their authenticity does not occur to them.
You've probably seen such stories on Facebook or other social media, and maybe even shared them yourself. You many think they are true — or maybe want them to be.
“Fake news has become a plague on the web,” CNN's Brian Stelter wrote in a — real and legitimate — online post on Sunday.
Stelter identifies three types of such articles: totally fake “hoax sites”; sites that are so partisan that they bend real news to the point of breaking; and, most damaging, "hybrid" sites that mix in a little truth with fiction.
“It's time for a new rule on the web: Double, no, triple check before you share, especially if it seems too good to be true,” he wrote.
A recent BuzzFeed study of "hyperpartisan Facebook pages" found that fake news pages "are consistently feeding their millions of followers false or misleading information." Some stories have even made it into Facebook's “trending” box, it has been reported.
The extent of the fake news problem in the Middle East is not known — although the region is rife with unreliable news sites, according to one expert.
Such sites may not necessarily pass themselves off as legitimate news services — but still propagate false news.
Khaldoon Said, technology journalist at the Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper, said that there are many news outlets in the Middle East that churn out unverified — and sometimes, completely fabricated — reports.
Such sites are typically not registered with the relevant government department in the country in which they are based, he added.
“These have spread false rumors and people tend to believe them,” Said commented. “Sometimes (these news sites) will never double-check the source of the story.”
Many of these sites are in Arabic and started as blogs before launching as full-fledged websites, Said added.
“Some of them will just come up with their own story, just to create attention,” he said. “The public seems to believe they are a credible source of news.”