There is evidence that Russian campaigns on social media sent out fake news stories and false conspiracies to create divisions among Americans during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign. Executives from Facebook, Google, and Twitter are being asked about this interference in the first public congressional hearings on Russian propaganda. Listen to hear more about how Russian propaganda affects people’s beliefs and behavior, and how quickly false stories spread.
Story Length: 4:35
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December 19, 2016
4:57
There is evidence that a CIA assessment found that Russia intervened in the U.S. presidential election to try to help Donald Trump win. In this story, a reporter from the Washington Post discusses what they found out about how the Russians intended to help Trump in the election. It’s known that Russians hacked into both Democratic and Republican emails, and released emails to Wikileaks that were damaging to the Democratic campaign. President-elect Trump has stated that he does not trust the CIA’s assessment. Listen to hear more about what is known about the CIA report.
Read MoreNovember 23, 2016
1:59
Since Donald Trump's election victory, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has come out twice to address the issue of fake news. A spokesperson said Facebook is not doing business with fake news apps. These are sites that promote false and inaccurate information which then goes viral. Facebook sells ad space inside its news feed and says these outside parties are not allowed to use the ad network. However, stories make money for Facebook when they are clicked, if they happen to get posted. Google, another tech giant, said it's working on a policy to keep its ads off fake news sites. Listen to hear more about this social media controversy.
Read MoreOctober 5, 2016
6:47
This year’s presidential campaign has been divisive, partly due to the polarizing nature of candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. The social media site, Facebook, has been a popular platform for political conversation in past election years, but has surged this year. There have been over 4 billion posts, comments and reactions about this presidential election. As people take to Facebook to express their views, contentious political posts have been driving people apart, often leading to unfriending. Listen to hear how Facebook users are reacting to political posts.
Read MoreAugust 15, 2016
3:46
After the Democratic Party databases were hacked recently, election tampering has become a major concern for election officials. In May this year, a security analyst hacked into a Florida elections website to show that the system is vulnerable. The online voter registration system in Illinois was shut down after a computer gained unauthorized access to data in the system.
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