“Fake news”: False fears or real concerns?

‘‘Fake news’’ has become a much-used and much-hyped term in the so-called ‘‘post-truth’’ era that
we now live in. It is also much-maligned: it is often blamed for having a disruptive impact on the
outcomes of elections and referenda and for skewing democratic public debate, with the 2016 US
Presidential elections and Brexit referendum often cited as examples. ‘‘Fake news’’ has also been
flagged for fuelling propaganda and ‘‘hate speech’’ and even violence. ‘‘Pizzagate’’ is an infamous
example of exceptional circumstances in which a false news story had a central role in a shooting
incident. In December 2016, a man in Washington D.C. took it upon himself to ‘‘self-investigate’’
a story (a completely unfounded conspiracy theory) that the Hillary Clinton campaign team was
running a paedophile ring from the premises of a pizzeria. Shots were fired and he was arrested and
charged with assault and related offences.1
Given all this bad press, it is perhaps little wonder that ‘‘fake news’’ has become a major
preoccupation for international organisations, national law- and policy-makers, the media and
media actors, civil society and academia. But what exactly is ‘‘fake news’’ and what is all the
fuss about? In addressing these questions, this column will also consider historical and contemporary perspectives on the term and its relationship with human rights