It’s no secret that social media platforms benefit from our data. Our clicks,views and overall time spent on these platforms builds a digital footprint of our identity. This footprint is used to recommend different posts, tweets and videos to the user. This is the foundation of the social media advertising model as the platforms depend on this activity to make revenue. Publishers of fake news take advantage of this system and algorithm by using it to make their content go viral quickly. If the advertising model changes and there is no financial incentive for spreading content then these false news publishers will take a huge hit on engagement. It all comes down to if the social media companies will make this sacrifice in their advertising model in order to cripple the spread of fake news.
