Donald Trump Isn’t Just Benefitting From ‘Fake News’ Websites — He Is One

Last night, a website notorious for spreading disinformation across social media claimed that Donald Trump had, through negotiations with Ford chairman Bill Ford, ensured that Ford would not move its Lincoln production plant from Louisville to Mexico. The claim was, at best, misleading — Ford was never going to close the plant; Lincoln production was going to move to Mexico while the Kentucky plant shifted to producing only the Ford Escape, with no jobs lost — but, as is often the case with fake-news reports, it was quickly and uncritically distributed by an audience in the tens of thousands, if not much higher, especially after it was picked up by the galaxy of far-right fly-by-night sites that profit from the creation and distribution of exaggerations, wish fulfillment, and lies on social media. The fake-news site that originated this particular story is based here in New York City, and located at http://www.twitter.com/realDonaldTrump. Its proprietor is the president-elect of the United States.