Due to this, I will introduce and add political-fake news as a type of clickbait (#10). It can be argued that it is the other way around- clickbait is a type of fake news. But I am arguing that political-fake news is a type of clickbait due to the desired click that needs to happen to generate money. Ever since the 2016 election, politics have been a hot topic for the past four years. There has been an enormous amount of political fake-news processed from both sides of the political candidates. As passionate as people are about Donald Trump or Hilary Clinton, polarized individuals can’t help but click exaggerated and fake partisan headlines that bash the side that they hate. “Fake news, or hoax news, refers to false information or propaganda published under the guise of being authentic news” (Stroud, 2019, p.1). Using Soll (2016) as a backdrop, I will present political-fake news as a medium of presenting false information implicitly or explicitly in favor or hatred of a political group, candidate, or events to shift [society] and formulate opinions against, or for a position on a falsified and insubstantial grounds. Much of the political-fake news headlines are biased and consists of: “Trump having affair with daughter and she will be running against him in 2020!”, “Hilary Clinton is spying on and reading your emails!”, etc.
Political-fake news is used in motive to provide a confirmation bias or present a shock factor. The psychology and responsibility is geared towards those who are for example, far to the left or too far to the right on the political spectrum. Clickbait creators, most who are doing it for profit, know these types of content that will trigger their audience to click their headlines and articles: Donald Trump, Guns, the environment, immigration, abortion, LGBTQ+, etc. I will present a syllogism in perspective of these creators:
If Donald Trump is a popular topic [in favor or against], then I will create and present clickbait on this topic. If Donald Trump is not a popular topic [in favor or against], then I will not create or present clickbait on this topic.
There is an emphasis on the word “popular.” Throughout the hundreds of political topics, if it is not popular then clickbait creators won’t create this content to fulfill political-fake news. For example, poverty in third world countries is an issue that many candidates have spoken about yet have not committed to. If this is a priority in a candidate’s campaign that causes controversy, then political-fake news creators will create, present, and post insubstantial news articles to the public about this either for or against.
