A report on a February Harvard conference on fake news identified ways to conduct further research on the topic and enumerated ways to reduce fake news. The report stated, “While there are examples of fake news websites emerging from nowhere, in fact it may be that most fake news comes from a handful of websites. Identifying the responsibilities of the platforms and getting their proactive involvement will be essential in any major strategy to fight fake news. If platforms dampened the spread of information from just a few web sites, the fake news problem might drop precipitously overnight. Further, it appears that the spread of fake news is driven substantially by external manipulation, such as bots and “cyborgs” (individuals who have given control of their accounts to apps). Steps by the platforms to detect and respond to manipulation will also naturally dampen the spread of fake news.” (Shorenstein Center, May 2, 2017)
In the meantime, foundations have been pouring money into the fight against fake news. Chief among the initiatives is the project called the Open Brand Safety framework. The strategy calls for providing lists of fake news domains to networks, ad firms and agencies to throttle funding for the domains and sites. (Nieman Lab, May 2, 2017, by Ken Doctor)
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