Despite the obvious bias and inaccurate information that go into crafting many fake news articles, there is still something about the strategies of these authors that force the reader to believe in the truths these articles claim to reveal. Curious to discover what tactics were used to make these essays seem real, I read Time's "How Your Brain Tricks You Into Believing Fake News", as it reviewed the personal experience of a professor and the data gathered by Stanford History Education Group.
After examining the article, I discovered that there is not just a single type of individual that falls victim to such articles, and many consumers might be interacting with "fake news" articles more than they realize. According to the Standford History Education Group that "it's a matter of letting the wrong impulses take over." They note how we are consistently multitasking as residential space in our minds are taken up by school/work, personal life, and along with the hundreds of notifications that pop up each day can make it seem like there isn't enough "time to read anything but headlines."
While there are some very obvious strategies that pull readers in such as outlandish and shocking titles or potential "evidence" which often tends to be facts or quotes from credible sources that have been misconstrued. These websites also play off what consumers assume a website dedicated to producing fake news would look like, and then use the signs of a reputable media outlet against them. According to the unidentified professor mentioned at the beginning of the article, he said he "took note of the '.org' web address and a list of academic-looking citations. The site’s sober design, devoid of flashy, autoplaying videos, lent it credibility, he thought. After five minutes, he had found little reason to doubt the article."
The author made sure to not place all the blame onto the creators themselves, but also the social media platforms and tech giants that create these faulty algorithms that distribute these seemingly informative pieces in front of their audiences.
While there are specific tactics that the authors of these "news" sources do to grasp the attention of potential audience members, there are several factors in play that many aren't fully aware of.
Links:
"How Your Brain Tricks You Into Believing Fake News"
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