ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how specific instances of fake news concerning the 2016 US election and Donald Trump’s presidency have circulated through digital media and popular discourse and believed by individuals on all points of the ideological spectrum. It argues that liberals as well as conservatives are susceptible to the tactics of fake news—despite conservatives being unevenly targeted. Affective attachments and felt realities, or a ‘gut reaction’ to the news with which one comes into contact, become viable alternatives to empirically based discourse. Fake news creators compete for consumers’ limited attention within the new attention economy, which is complicated by a glut of information. Fake news is able to deceive consumers across partisan lines by specifically targeting pre-existing fears and beliefs, mimicking the aesthetics of mainstream news websites, and circulating through social media. There has been a growing attention to the influence of fake news, understood as “hoax-based stories that perpetuate hearsay, rumors, and misinformation.”
