Although fake news may seem new, it’s just the platform that has changed. Propaganda has been around for years, and the online platforms are now the latest method of communication that is abused to spread lies and misinformation.

Wikipedia describes fake news (or junk news or pseudo-news) as “a type of yellow journalism or propaganda that consists of deliberate disinformation or hoaxes spread via traditional print and broadcast news media or online social media”. Fake news is therefore news or stories created to deliberately misinform or deceive readers.

Every day we are bombarded with this type of information on social media. One of the latest fake campaigns is targeting financial services firm, Discovery.

In a BusinessTech article, chief marketing officer at Discovery, Firoze Bhorat shares: “It is critical that people have access to accurate information to inform the decisions they make. Discovery takes immediate steps to combat fake news by reporting it to Facebook and Google whenever we become aware of examples such as these. Click bait content is often devised to extract information from people and we urge our clients to be conscious of the risks associated with clicking on suspicious links.”

Click here to read the article that shares more information about fake news and how to tell if a website contains misinformation.