President Obama weighed in on the growing furor over fake news on the Internet on Thursday, cautioning against “active misinformation” that he said may threaten democracy itself. Obama’s remarks came during a press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in which he called on Americans — and especially young people — to avoid complacency as citizens.
Active misinformation is “packaged very well and it looks the same when you see it on a Facebook page or you turn on your television,” he said. Some television networks have picked up on deliberately faked online stories, as when Fox News reported that Obama had deleted messages of support for Hillary Clinton on his Twitter account. Fox later apologized. FULL REPORT
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