Fake News and Online Regulations

The dissemination of fake news by online is a threat to democracy. Should online platforms therefore be subject to regulatory control?

Professional
journalism plays an important role in our democratic societies by acting as a
public watchdog
over the concentrations of power, ensuring the accountability of these
institutions, and informing us of important occurrences.[1] However,
fabrication, fakery and falsehood have been a
part of journalism since the first journalists put quill to parchment.[2]
Therefore, statutory laws and regulatory bodies aim to ensure journalism is
impartial and accurate. However, journalism today is experiencing fundamental
transformation due to technological advancements; consequently, the public now
acquires news through digital platforms as well as traditional sources. A 2016 survey found that 35% of people in the UK now use
social media to access the news, for those under 35 years old, 41% used
Facebook and 20% used Twitter as a weekly source.[3]
Online platforms have created more news sources to larger audiences, but this
has also opened floodgates of inaccurate information pouring into our news feeds by deskilled
journalists. The phenomena of citizen journalism and ‘we media’ have
accelerated the pattern of random and instantaneous digital dissemination of
information.[4]
These activities have contributed to blurring the lines between truth
and falsehood, and created fake news, which puts professional journalism under
pressure.

On 30^th January 2017, The Culture, Media and
Sport Committee launched an inquiry into fake news and called for submissions to be made
suggesting ways to
respond to the phenomenon of fake news. Various regulatory bodies, and institutions
including the LSE Media policy
project have shed some light on this topic.[5]
Fake news can be best understood as ‘the misinformation (the inadvertent sharing of false
information) and disinformation (the deliberate creation and sharing of
information known to be false)’.[6]
These types of content are being created as a result of: poor journalism,
parody, provocation, passion, partisanship, profit, political influence and
propaganda.[7] They are published on news sites and listed by
digital intermediaries (groups consisting of news aggregators, social networks,
search engines, and digital application stores) [8] causing fake news to spread across the globe. The concerning issue is the channels through which most people gain their
news from are currently subject to no statutory laws, editorial
guidelines nor regulation by organizations such as the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO).
However, there is a wealth of evidence
supporting the scale, dissemination and effects of fake news. The debate has
gained significant prominence since the 2016 US presidential elections.

Statutory
regulation of digital intermediaries

A YouGov survey
commissioned by Channel 4 found that only 4% of people were able to correctly
identify fake news.[9]
This inability is concerning as many people, especially the young, acquire
knowledge, and form opinions, by what they see and read on the internet. Statutory regulation would therefore be the
most direct response to the challenge of fake news;[10]
under this approach digital intermediaries would be treated as publishers even
if they have not played an active part in the commissioning or presentation of
such content.[11] Such an approach may be necessary as a study analysing how social
media can improve citizens’ knowledge of political preferences proved that
there is a remarkable ability for social media to forecast election results.[12]
This proved to be the case during the EU referendum, where 7% of those that
voted for Brexit regretted their choice later. [13]
News reporters found voters claiming they voted leave because they believed
lies or false promises[14];
it is most likely that the sources of these false statements were from
unregulated online platforms. Therefore, enforcing legislation on digital intermediaries would hold these
platforms directly accountable, ensuring they take their civic duty seriously.[15]

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Fake news is also a concern on Twitter where ‘Twitter bombs’
(the act of sending unsolicited replies to specific users via Twitter in order
to get them to pay attention to one’s cause), are being launched within days of
the elections.[16]
Despite Twitter’s attempts to shut them down it has been ineffective as these
users create fake accounts, fake replies and fake grassroots movements.[17]
These tweets target deskilled-journalists online, pressurising some to moderate
their views. Democracy is threatened if people’s views are influenced by false
statements in the guise of news. Aside from political motivations, the
spreading of fake news was also noted by users retweeting fake images of the
Hurricane Sandy disaster[18],
and pictures of the of Osama Bin Laden’s dead body.[19]
Such action usually goes unnoticed unless someone has detected and reported the
issue. This response is different for newspapers
because they are subject to the IPSO, or a similar body. Journalists employed
by regulated publishers are required to uphold the values enforced in the
Editors’ code of practice. This aims to ensure accuracy of information and a
standard of professional journalism is maintained[20] . However, digital
intermediaries are not held accountable by any body, like the IPSO, even though
they have a large audience that is affected by fabricated stories. Therefore,
it is crucial that these organisations take some responsibility in resolving
this issue.[21]
Without
implementing any strict regulatory initiatives such incidences would occur
daily and remain unquestioned, leaving users to believe false information. Statutory regulation would therefore fill the gap
in the law, bringing clarity and holding digital
intermediaries responsible for their part in disseminating fake news.

There is no doubt that intermediaries play a dominant role in the global
public sphere, but perhaps we need to address the question of whether we should
continue to consider them as mere intermediaries.[22] Unlike news providers, intermediaries have no
investment in journalism and are therefore more likely to filter out news. This limits users’ understanding of the world, as they are insulated
from opposing views. The risk is that these ‘filter bubbles’ (restrictions of a
users perspective) will promote misperceptions by
hiding the truth,[23]  which supports the economic models of
intermediaries because digital programmatic advertising follows users through
their ‘clicks’, ‘shares’ and ‘likes’.[24] By learning from the past
actions of a user, news feeds will only show similar material in their next
use. Requiring digital intermediaries to change their
approach by bursting this ‘filter bubble’ would not be in their commercial
interests, as the bubble’s content is what keeps users engaged. Statutory
regulation would therefore enforce strict rules on how intermediaries should
enforce mechanisms to detect and filter fake news instead of opposing views.

Moreover, ensuring
impartiality and accuracy is important especially during election time. ‘A BuzzFeed News
analysis found that top fake election news stories generated more total
engagement on Facebook than top election stories from 19 major news outlets
combined’.[25]
This imbalance illustrates the significant role digital intermediaries play in
today’s society, and therefore it is particularly concerning if their news
content is fake. If
newspapers and broadcasting media organisations are obliged to follow strict
guidelines on impartiality[26] and accuracy, then why
should it be any different for online platforms?  For example, Section 319 of the
Communications Act 2003 requires TV and radio broadcasters to comply with the
standard objectives set by Ofcom. This includes, reporting ‘with due accuracy’
and not ‘misleading’;[27] furthermore, Parliament
‘requires Ofcom to develop rules with respect to broadcasters’ wider editorial
coverage of elections’.[28] Similar regulations on
intermediaries would ensure information is not personalized to a user’s
preferences, thus maintaining impartiality and accuracy, whilst avoiding the
risk of disseminating fake news to users.

Statutory regulation of online
news providers

The dissemination of fake news by online news
providers has proven to be a great concern as anonymous individuals are inventing fake news for the purpose of generating clicks and
earning revenue.[29] Such behavior
has been identified in Macedonia, where teenagers were found to be making money
by creating fake news on US presidential candidates and promoting it via social
media.[30] If statutory regulation is placed on digital intermediaries, then the same
could be done for online news providers, as the same news from online news
providers will be shared via digital intermediaries. This was proven to
be the case as various US sites claimed to be exposing ‘Russian propaganda’,[31]
was shared via other online platforms which influenced voter behavior in the US
elections.[32]
Examples such as as this suggest ‘misleading, biased propaganda’ is also part
of the fake news phenomenon.[33] It is therefore
important to set statutory regulations for both, as this type of de-skilled citizen journalism is a
threat to democracy especially because people’s views are being influenced by
biased and inaccurate information.[34]

Furthermore,
news outlets that only have an online presence,
such as AOL news, Vice, and Huffington Post, are not subject to any regulatory
controls as they are not members of regulatory bodies like IPSO;[35]
even though they are subject to
some statutory control such as defamation,[36]
copyright[37]
and data protection laws,[38]
control is not the same as the additional regulatory standards most UK press
(with a physical and online presence) comply to. Without belonging to any
recognised regulator, publishers may have to pay
exemplary damages under the Crime and Courts Act for defamation or other
relevant claims;[39]
therefore, it would be in the interests of online publishers to join a
recognized regulatory body.

Interestingly, Wikipedia recently banned
Daily Mail as an ‘unreliable’ source and excluded it as a source of reference.
Wikipedia claimed the newspaper to have a ‘reputation for poor fact checking
and sensationalism’.[40]
These claimed characteristics are another concern for UK journalism, as IPSO
regulates Daily Mail (Associated Newspapers Limited) [41]
yet they are still being labelled as an unreliable source. This indicates the
ineffectiveness of IPSO as it failed to ensure the credibility of a publisher
they regulate. Such failures generate an inclination towards statutory
regulation of online news providers as regulatory bodies are not enough, to
ensure that newspapers report accurately and without exaggeration. Not only do
such flaws lose the public’s trust in professional journalism’ but they also
create a society that is vulnerable to fake news. There is also no evidence to suggest that the levels of  accuracy are rising or that the self-regulatory
bodies set up by the major publishers, and IPSO, are having any identifiable
positive effect.[42]
Hence, it may be necessary to set up statutory regulations of online news
providers which will create a more direct and stringent approach to tackling
fake news.

The Leveson Report[43]
suggested that such statutory regulation would be necessary to underpin the
process of recognition, and reinforce the importance of statutes guaranteeing
press freedom.[44]
However, three years on from the publication of the Leveson Report, the
landscape of press regulation is still fragmented and confused,[45]
and it may therefore be necessary to re-consider these suggestions. The
implementation of statutory regulation, combined with independent regulatory
bodies, should be extended to intermediaries and online news providers. Such a
framework is an essential stepping stone towards a regulatory regime that is
entirely fit for purpose in this new era. The negative issues with this
initiative would include costs, and whether a consensus by major publishers and
online platforms can be formed.

Self-regulation
by digital intermediaries

An alternative to statutory regulations would be to enforce
a self-regulatory system for digital intermediaries which would allow them to
have significant control in filtering fake news according to methods they
believe are most effective. Mark Zuckerberg, although
first dismissing the idea that fake news influenced the US election, later
acknowledged the role of social media in helping promote fake news, and
proposed ways in which Facebook could help resolve this issue.[46] Actions include taking an
approach
that ‘will focus less on banning misinformation, and more on surfacing
additional perspectives and information, including that fact checkers dispute
an item’s accuracy’.[47]
Other ways
Facebook could reduce fake news without resorting to censorship include;
nudging, crowdsourcing and reducing the algorithmic bias.[48]
Nudging involves monitoring what users are writing in a
new post; if the content includes words they may regret posting, it notifies
them. Crowdsourcing allows users to evaluate news sources by indicating ratings. Lastly, the most
important solution is to reduce the algorithmic bias. This involves trying to
diminish filter bubbles that create an “echo chamber”, where similar ideas
bounce around endlessly which is a problem when the echo chamber blocks out
corrective or fact-checking information.[49]

Although, some digital intermediaries have already taken
steps to tackle the issue of fake news, it would be ineffective to give them
sole responsibility. More useful would be to establish
a governance mechanism, such as an independent board, that could check whether
the algorithms accord with acceptable principles.[50] This view is supported by the
Trust Project, which suggests that algorithms alone will struggle to root out
fake news, unless they can quantify indicators of trust elements, which can
help set a ‘kitemark’ for trustworthiness.[51]
This suggestion includes being able to distinguish the intentions behind the
news, and whether it is genuine, or inaccurate reporting. Therefore, remedies based solely on technological fixes or market-driven
corrections will not, on their own, address these problems. Additionally, judgments of this
kind need to be carefully reviewed hence, an independent body should be
established to perform this role. This approach will ensure tech platforms
maintain transparency in the work they carry out to tackle this public issue.

Firstly, there
is no guarantee that only one country’s statutory regulation would work as
technologic advancements allow users to create and access online news sites
from anywhere in the world. If users can create fake news, they can create fake
identities, which raises ‘concerns for verification,
accountability and accuracy’[52]; therefore,
alternative solutions may be needed to tackle the problem effectively. This view is supported by Dr Tambini from the LSE, who states that the unprecedented
number of fake news sites is a “huge and far-reaching problem that cannot
be dealt within existing legal categories”.[53] Therefore, a
possible solution to tackling fake news would be to establish a global
regulatory body that could operate across borders. Taking such an approach
would not hinder the freedom of expression nor create restrictive frameworks,
as a global collective regulatory body would find common ground, respecting the
rights of all democratic institutions, and ensure that accuracy of information
could be maintained across online platforms.

Whereas, it would be difficult to
establish statutory regulation without hindering the right to freedom of
speech, which
must be balanced against the risk of giving states excessive powers over the
expression rights of individuals and organizations creating such content.[54]
‘The only category
where there may be an argument for statutory regulation is the category of
deliberate falsehood with intent to compromise national security’.[55]
However, such a high standard will be difficult to meet and not tackle the
phenomena of fake news. Instead a global regulatory system is more likely to create an
effective solution that can monitor all types of fake news. However, the major
concern with creating a global regulatory body is forming a consensus to
establish one, and deciding some universal criteria of what constitutes as fake
news. Regardless of the flaws in a global regulatory body, it is likely to be
the most effective solution for a global problem.

A further concern that must be
addressed is the misuse
of the term ‘fake news’. The term ‘fake news’ has been used by public figures
and politicians to justify politically motivated attacks on journalists and
press freedom.[56] ‘What
was once considered a symbiotic relationship between politics, media and the
public is turning from a Golden Triangle into a Bermuda Triangle’. [57] Representatives
from the White House and President Trump have used this term on numerous
occasions to accuse media reports that oppose Trump’s views.[58]
Moreover, in the UK, headlines such as, ‘we invested £10bn extra in the NHS
last year’, and claims that, ‘Corbyn would order Labour MPs to vote for the
government’s bill triggering Article 50’,[59]
were later found to be false. Nonetheless journalists claim to have correctly
interpreted quotes from politicians, but due to the lack of clarity, and
changing views of the politicians, their journalism was labelled as ‘fake
news’.[60]
This labelling is no fault of their own, but it definitely damages their
reputation as credible sources in the eyes of the public. A global regulatory
body could establish mechanism which safeguard online journalists and
individuals that may have complaints to online content.

These mechanisms would be similar to the way the press is
currently protected by regulatory bodies such as IPSO, Ofcom, and Advertising
Standard Authority which provide all individuals with a complaints procedure to
resolve disputes.[61]
For online news sites created by individuals, however such protections and
remedies are not available. In these cases, the only way the news sites could
safeguard themselves from possible accusations of creating false news would be
to become members of such bodies. A global regulatory body could protect and
hold online journalists accountable for their reports, and scrutinise claims by
politicians in the public eye. This protection could be extended to the
existent online press, to further safeguard them from accusations and ensure
accuracy.

Traditional
gatekeeping mechanisms, such as national statutory laws and self-regulatory frameworks, can
ensure online platforms are subject to similar frameworks as newspapers and
the broadcasting media are, but this approach would ultimately fail because the internet has no borders- allowing online platforms to operate
globally, across multiple jurisdictions.[62] Fake news created in a
different country, would still be accessible and impact users from other
countries, (as proven to be the case with Macedonia). Therefore, the issue of
fake news can only be tackled effectively by all democratic institutions through
the creation of a global regulatory body.

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[1] Wahl-Jorgensen
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[2] Brian Mcnair, ‘ Fake news – a user’s guide’ (The-Conversation, 6 March 2017) <https://theconversation.com/fake-news-a-users-guide-73428>accessed
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[3] UK Parliament, ‘Social Media and Access to
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[5] Emma
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[6] Claire Wardle, ‘Fake news It’s complicated’, (First Draft News, 16 February 2017),
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[7] Ibid

[8] Michael Wise, ‘News Plurality and Digital
Intermediaries-EJO’ (European Journalism
Observatory-EJO, 28 August 2012), <http://en.ejo.ch/media-politics/news-plurality-and-digital-intermediaries>accessed
13/April/2017

[9] Jessica
Goodfellow, ‘Only 4% of people can distinguish fake news from truth, Channel 4
study finds’ (The Drum, 6 February 2017), <http://www.thedrum.com/news/2017/02/06/only-4-people-can-distinguish-fake-news-truth-channel-4-study-finds>accessed online 11/April/2017

[10] Impress,
‘IMPRESS Submission on Fake News Page ‘, (Impress press, 10th March
2017) <http://www.impress.press/downloads/file/research/impress-fake-news-submission-march-2017.pdf>
accessed 11/April/2017

[11] Ibid

[12] Ceron et al, ‘Every tweet counts? How sentiment
analysis of social media can improve our knowledge of citizens’ political
preferences with an application to Italy and France’ [4 April 2013] 16(2) New Media & Society, pp.340 – 358

[13] Lizzie Dearden, ‘Brexit research suggests 12 million
Leave voters regret their choice in reversal that could change result’ (The
Independent, 1 July 2016) <http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-news-second-eu-referendum-leave-voters-regret-bregret-choice-in-millions-a7113336.html>
accessed 13/April/2017

[14] Ibid

[15] Clive Thompson, ‘Why Facebook and Twitter have a
civic duty to protect us from fake news’, (WIRED
UK, 24 February 2017), <http://www.wired.co.uk/article/social-medium-message>accessed
11/April/2017

[16] Metaxas et al, ‘Manipulation
of social media affects perceptions of candidates and compromises
decision-making‘ [26 Oct 2012] 338(6106) Social Media and the Elections
pp.472-473

[17] Ibid

[18] Gupta et
al, ‘Faking Sandy: characterizing and
identifying fake images on Twitter during Hurricane Sandy’ [2013] In Proceedings of the 22nd International
conference on WWW ’13, pp.729-7637

[19] Newman et al, Social Media and the News:
Implications for the Press and Society, (OUP, 2014), pp.139

[20] Ipso, ‘Editors’ Code of Practice’, (The
Independent Press Standards Organization), <https://www.ipso.co.uk/media/1058/a4-editors-code-2016.pdf>accessed
10/April/2017

[21] UK Parliament, ‘Select Committee on
Communications Corrected oral evidence: Children and the Internet’ (Data.parliament.uk,
22 November 2016), <http://data.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/committeeevidence.svc/evidencedocument/communications-%20committee/children-and-the-internet/oral/43755.pdf>accessed
11/April/2017

[22] NMA, ‘CMS Select Committee ‘Fake News’
Inquiry: NMA Response’ (News.media.uk.org, 30 March 2017), <http://www.newsmediauk.org/write/MediaUploads/Fake%20News/NMA_Submission_to_the_CMS_Select_Committee_%27Fake_News%27_Inquiry.pdf>accessed 11/April/2017

[23] R.Kelly Garrett, ‘Facebook’s problem is more
complicated than fake news’ (The
Conversation, 17 November 2016), <http://theconversation.com/facebooks-problem-is-more-complicated-than-fake-news-68886>accessed
11/April/2017

[24] Ibid

[25] BBC, ‘Fake news: How can African media deal with the
problem?’ (BBC News, 16 February 2017), <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-38883347>accessed
11/April/2017

[26] Brian Mcnair, ‘Journalism
and Democracy: a millennial audit’ [2000] 1(2) Journalism Studies pp.207

[27] Communications
Act 2003, Section 319(2)(d) and (h)


[28] Ofcom, ‘Review of Ofcom list of major political
parties for elections’ (Ofcom.org.uk, 16 March 2015), <https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0016/72142/major_parties_statement.pdf>accessed
12/April/2017

[29]  Jonathan Goldsbie, ‘Craig
Silverman, the man who exposed the fake-news racket in 2016’ (NOW-Magazine, 22 December 2016) <https://nowtoronto.com/news/craig-silverman-exposed-the-fake-news-racket/>
accessed 11/April/2017

[30]  Andrew Byrne,
‘Macedonia’s fake news industry sets sights on Europe’ (www.ft.com, 16 December 2016), <https://www.ft.com/content/333fe6bc-c1ea-11e6-81c2-f57d90f6741a>accessed
11/April/2017

[31] Steven Nelson, ‘Publications Called Russian-Propaganda
Distributors Consider Suing Anonymous ‘Experts’, (US-News, 29 November 2016), <https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-11-29/publications-called-russian-propaganda-distributors-consider-suing-anonymous-experts?src=usn_tw>accessed
9/April/2017

[32]Adam Johnson, ‘Why are media outlets still citing
discredited Fake News Blacklist?’, (FAIR,
1 December 2016) <http://fair.org/home/why-are-media-outlets-still-citing-discredited-fake-news-blacklist/accessed
9/April/2017

[33] Lotan Gilad, ‘Fake News Is Not the Only Problem’ (www.points.datasocietynet, 23 November
2016), <https://points.datasociety.net/fake-news-is-not-the-problem-f00ec8cdfcb>accessed
11/April/2017

[34]Jeremy Singer-Vine, ‘Most Americans Who See Fake News
Believe It’, (BuzzFeed,7th December
2016), <https://www.buzzfeed.com/craigsilverman/fake-news-survey?utm_term=.ywmJ84DQPD>accessed
13/April/2017

[35] NMA, ‘CMS Select Committee ‘Fake News’
Inquiry: NMA Response’ (Newsmediauk.org, 30 March 2017), <http://www.newsmediauk.org/write/MediaUploads/Fake%20News/NMA_Submission_to_the_CMS_Select_Committee_%27Fake_News%27_Inquiry.pdf>accessed 11/April/2017

[36] Defamation Act 2013

[37] Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

[38] Data Protection
Act 1998

[39] Crime and Courts Act 2013, Sections 34 to 42

[40] Jasper Jackson, ‘Wikipedia bans Daily Mail as
‘unreliable’ source ‘ (theguardian.com, 8 Feb 2017), <https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/feb/08/wikipedia-bans-daily-mail-as-unreliable-source-for-website>accessed
13/April/2017

[41] Ipso, ‘UK Regulated publications’ (Ipso.co.uk)
<https://www.ipso.co.uk/about-ipso/who-ipso-regulates/?letters=d>accessed
13/April/2017

[42]KCL, ‘Submission to: Consultation on the Leveson
Inquiry and its Implementation Department for CMS and the Home Office’ (Kcl.ac.uk)
<https://www.kcl.ac.uk/sspp/policy-institute/publications/CMCP-Consultation-Submission-for-DCMS-100117-Final.pdf>
accessed 11/April/2017

[43] Lord
Justice Leveson, ‘An Inquiry into the Culture, Practices and Ethics of the
Press’ (www.gov.uk, 2012) <https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/229039/0779.pdf>accessed
16/April/2017

[44] J Heawood, ‘Independent
and effective? The post-Leveson framework for press regulation’ [2015] 7(2)
Journal of Media Law, pp.130-144

[45] Ibid

[46] Mark Zuckerberg, ‘Building Global Community’ (Facebook.com,
16 February 2017), <https://www.facebook.com/notes/mark-zuckerberg/building-global-community/10154544292806634>accessed
11/April/2017

[47] Ibid

[48] Jennifer Stromer-galley, ‘Three ways Facebook could
reduce fake news without resorting to censorship’ (The Conversation, 2 December 2016) <https://theconversation.com/three-ways-facebook-could-reduce-fake-news-without-resorting-to-censorship-69033>accessed
13/April/2017

[49] Ibid

[50] KCL,
‘Submission to: Inquiry into Fake News’ (Kcl.ac.uk, 16 February 2017)
<https://www.kcl.ac.uk/sspp/policy-institute/publications/CMCP-Consultation-Submission-for-CMS-Select-Committee-Fake-News-Inquiry.pdf> accessed 11/April/2017

[51] The Trust Project, (thetrustproject.org)
<http://thetrustproject.org/> accessed 13/April/2017

[52] N Fenton, New
Media Old News, (Sage Publications
Ltd, 2009) pp.10

[53] PA, ‘Can the law do anything to stop fake news?’
(Aol.co.uk,12 Dec 2016), <http://www.aol.co.uk/news/2016/12/12/can-the-law-do-anything-to-stop-fake-news/>accessed
11/April/2017

[54] PRCA, ‘PRCA response to the CMS
Committee’s ‘Fake News’ Inquiry ‘ (Prca.org.uk, 6 March 2017), <https://www.prca.org.uk/sites/default/files/PRCA
Response to Fake News Inquiry.pdf> accessed 11/April/2017

[55] D Tambini, Fake News: Public Policy Responses, (LSE Media Policy Project Series), pp.13-15

[56] Allen and Lawler, ‘Donald Trump says fake media is
enemy of the people’’ (The-Telegraph, 24 February 2017), <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/02/24/donald-trump-says-fake-media-enemy-people-have-no-sources/>
accessed 13/April/2017

[57] Broersma and Peters, ‘Rethinking
Journalism Trust and Participation in a Transformed News Landscape’,
(Routledge, 2013), pp.15

[58] BBC, ‘Donald Trump aide accuses BBC of ‘fake news” (BBC
News, 17 February 2017), <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-39000118>accessed
13/April/2017

[59] Martin Robbins, ‘Fake news and fact-checking: Trump
is demonstrating how to outsmart an AI’ (theguardian.com, 31 January
2017), <https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/jan/31/fake-news-and-fact-checking-trump-is-demonstrating-how-to-outsmart-an-ai-artificial-intelligence>accessed
13/April/2017

[60] Ibid

[661] NUJ, ‘NUJ submission to the CMS parliamentary
select committee inquiry on fake news’ (www.nuj.org.uk, February 2017) <https://www.nuj.org.uk/about/nuj-resources/nuj-submissions/>accessed 11/April/2017

[62] Bfi, ‘Regulation and Censorship’ (Bfi.org.uk),
<http://www.bfi.org.uk/sites/bfi.org.uk/files/downloads/bfi-media-conference-2014-changing-media-regulation-part-two.pdf>accessed
11/April/2017