Fake News and the Honesty Crisis in Politics

Rather than focusing on dishonesty among politicians, this chapter keeps the focus squarely on regular people. Does dishonesty abound among them when it comes to political matters? The focus is mainly on fake news, or any story that is fabricated and yet is being presented as if it were coming from a reputable or reliable news source. Social media is providing greater opportunities for people to share fake news than they ever had in the past, thereby making it easier to be dishonest. The chapter looks at five different strategies to try to curb sharing fake political news: pro-truth pledges, inoculation, fact-checking, source labels, and accuracy prompts. It ends by turning briefly to politicians and the factors that can lead people to punish them (or not) when they are found acting dishonestly.