Nsikan Akpan — The very real consequences of fake news stories and why your brain can’t ignore them

Fakery aka persuasion, sophistry, and rhetorical artifice has long been the basis for advertising, PR and propaganda, as well as the tabloid press before infotainment went mainstream and profits were counted base on the number of eyeballs. Now with the Internet, many have discovered that it is possible to get rich quick by planting fake news and reaping the benefits of the advertising windfall.

What's behind that? Cognitive-affective biases. Humans are easy to manipulate for anyone who understand how to use them.

There is so much noise now that the signal is difficult to detect.

PBS NewsHour | PBS
The very real consequences of fake news stories and why your brain can’t ignore them
Nsikan Akpan