In late December, the defense minister of Pakistan tweeted an ominous reminder to the leaders of Israel that Pakistan “is a Nuclear state too.” This tweet was in response to a news story in which former Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon was quoted as saying, “If Pakistan send ground troops into Syria on any pretext, we will destroy this country with a nuclear attack.” The Pakistan Minister of Defense saw the quote and determined it was a threat to their country. The problem? This threat from Israel was not real; it was reported on a fake news site. Yaalon never said it. There was no quote. Just made up words. Pakistan’s Minister of Defense, Khawaja Muhammad Asif, reacting to a false story from a fake news site. (The original tweet has since been deleted.) So how did we get to this point? A point where leaders of countries are threatening each other because of news that is not merely inaccurate, but utterly fabricated? Fake news in the internet era Fake news is not new. It has been around for hundreds of years under various names such as “yellow journalism” and “tabloid news.” Online, it has been around almost as long as we have had a public internet, especially in the areas of health and medicine. Go on Facebook, and at least once a day you will see a post about “melting away belly fat” and “cures for cancer.” These are not legitimate articles based on scientific research and peer-reviewed medical…
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