Heads up: Bullshit News is Booming

In my never ending self determination to be a smarty pants I’ve noticed a big surge in Bullshit News articles that are pure fabrications turning up in people’s social media feeds. I felt like some kind of heads up was in order.

WARNING: There are now many sites on the internet specializing in fake news stories. Their goal is not to entertain you but to get you to share their stories so people will click through and then click the adds on their site. They hide the fact they are fake news stories somewhere on an about or contact us page.

I like satire, especially political and news satire. The Onion is a great site and is completely honest about its satirical nature as are many other similar sites. These bullshit site however are not being funny, they are being deceptive and their only real aim is to fool you into helping them make money.

They design these stories with the following characteristics.

• Sound like a plausible story
• Focused around current popular news stories and famous people
• Are just a bit outrageous
• Are exactly what you had hoped to read
• Are total bullshit

My advice, check the source of a news article before you post it. Look around the site and see if you can find a mention of the word satire or “for entertainment only” on the about page or contact page if you can find one. If the news on the site is almost all outrageous stuff, that’s a good clue they may well all be fakes.

Don’t be fooled, don’t spread lies, don’t help these jerks make a living off deception.