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Pashents White, Connor Borkowski, and Ian Groh
As consumers of fake news most of us often wonder why someone would create fake news. Why would someone publish things that could potentially hurt people and companies? A question everyone thinks and asks is “Do the authors receive any benefits for creating fake news? What if the benefits the author receives are influencing their reason to create fake news. So here’s a question that combines both of those thoughts, Do the benefits received by the author of fake news influence the motive to create fake news?
Most of the time the answer is yes. Authors can receive up to $30,000 a month just for creating a fake news article(Sydell). Some people may do it for the publicity, once fake news spreads sooner or later the author will get a lot of attention for it. Others may do it for politics or because of their bias. If someone is very passionate about a certain thing they tend to put more of what they believe, instead of true/real facts(Ohlheiser)(Anett). Even sometimes people will create fake news just for fun.
Not to many people create news to bring awareness to how fake news can spread but a man named Jestin Coler did. Coler was the author behind the fake news hoax about “FBI Agent Suspected In Hillary Email Leaks Found Dead In Apparent Murder-Suicide.” Coler is a soft-spoken 40-year-old with a wife and two kids. Although Coler did say people make $10,000-$30,000 a month from creating fake news, this wasn’t his motive. Coler said his motive for creating this article was to show how fake news can actually spread. However nobody really
knows if he’s telling the truth, since he has his own website called DisInfoMedia,, which has to due with social media.(Sydell).
Works Cited
Anett, Evan. “What is ‘fake news’, and how can you spot it? Try out quiz.”The Globe and Mail, https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/community/digital-lab/fake-news-quiz-how-to-spot/article33821986/?ref=http://www.theglobeandmail.com&. Accessed October 4, 2017.
Ohlheiser, Abby. “This is how Facebook’s fake-mees writers make money.” The Washington Post, 18 November 2016, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2016/11/18/this-is-how-the-internets-fake-news-writers-make-money/?utm_term=.d641681dc184. Accessed October 4, 2017.
Sydell, Laura. “We tracked down a fake-news creator in the suburbs. Here’s what we learned.” Vermont Public Radio, 23 November 2016, http://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2016/11/23/503146770/npr-finds-the-head-of-a-covert-fake-news-operation-in-the-suburbs. Accessed October 4, 2017.