Title: The Danger of Fake News in Inflaming or Suppressing Social Conflict | Center for Information Technology and Society - UC Santa Barbara
Headings: The Danger of Fake News in Inflaming or Suppressing Social Conflict
The Danger of Fake News in Inflaming or Suppressing Social Conflict
Social Conflict, American Style
Pizzagate
Russia’s Internet Research Agency
Cambridge Analytica
Other Political Groups
Fake News and Social Conflict Abroad
Some Take-Aways

Content: Politically motivated fake news came from multiple sources: foreign governments, such as the Russian Internet Research Agency; American political operatives who used illegitimately-acquired Facebook data from the Cambridge Analytica firm to convince social media users how to vote; and from politically motivated groups, such as the alt-right, alt-left, and conspiracy theorists. Despite their different goals, they spread similar fake news stories. Russia’s Internet Research Agency
During and after the 2016 election, Russian agents created social media accounts to spread fake news that stirred protests and favored presidential candidate Donald Trump while discrediting candidate Hillary Clinton and her associates. They paid Facebook for advertisements that appeared on that site to spread fake news and turn Americans against one another. The U.S. Congressional Intelligence committees responsible for investigating fake news have released 3,500 of these advertisements to the public. Ads focused on controversial social issues such as race, the Black Lives Matter movement, the 2 nd Amendment, immigration, and other issues. The Russians even went so far as to instigate protests and counter protests about a given issue, literally having Americans fight one another.