Title: Fake news: What exactly is it – and how can you spot it?
Headings: Fake news: What exactly is it – and how can you spot it?
Fake news: What exactly is it – and how can you spot it?
The origins of fake news
How did the internet and social media change things?
Impact of Russia, the 2016 US election and Trump
So, what exactly is fake news?
Has it had an influence?
What is being done about it?
How do you spot it?

Content: According to a study from Stanford University, fake news websites received 159 million visits during the month of the 2016 US election, and other research has shown the most widely-shared news stories during the election were fake. The majority were also pro-Trump. There is less evidence of fake news taking off in the UK during the Brexit vote or this year's general election, although there is evidence that bots have been used in both. However, there is a difference between reach and influence. The latter is a very difficult thing to measure, and this has been true of media for years - how much does the media drive beliefs, and how much does it reflect beliefs? One less measurable effect may have been that the sheer quantity of fake news