Facebook fake-news writer: I think Donald Trump is in the White House because of me

[still_one]

"What do the Amish lobby, gay wedding vans and the ban of the national anthem have in common? For starters, they’re all make-believe — and invented by the same man.

Paul Horner, the 38-year-old impresario of a Facebook fake-news empire, has made his living off viral news hoaxes for several years. He has twice convinced the Internet that he’s British graffiti artist Banksy; he also published the very viral, very fake news of a Yelp vs. “South Park” lawsuit last year.

But in recent months, Horner has found the fake-news ecosystem growing more crowded, more political and vastly more influential: In March, Donald Trump’s son Eric and his then-campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, even tweeted links to one of Horner’s faux-articles. His stories have also appeared as news on Google."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2016/11/17/facebook-fake-news-writer-i-think-donald-trump-is-in-the-white-house-because-of-me/

"nearly 45 percent of US adults say they rely on the world's largest social network and world's largest search engine for news"

https://www.cnet.com/news/facebook-google-fake-news-election-2016-trump-clinton/

[LisaM]

1. And all this concern comes out now.

Lovely.

[Lucinda]

2. Kicking and bookmarking to read later. Thank you!

[mainer]

3. He never thought Trump would actually get elected. He thought people were smarter.

But he underestimated the stupidity of Trump voters.

[still_one]

4. It wasn't just the trump voters. Those that voted third party were also involved, as were those

who refused to vote for Hillary, even though they identified themselves as progressive

[KT2000]

5. I wonder why

it never occurred to him that there would be consequences to his actions. But hey - it makes money so why bother with such negative thoughts. Free market and all that!
He is trying to dig himself out now but he realized long before the election what was happening.