It’s no secret that in today’s digital age, there’s increased volatility over what information politicians and the media can put out there. Many politicians are at constant loggerheads with the media about what they deem to be ‘fake news’.
Fake news, by definition, are articles deliberately written to spread misinformation and often to drive a political agenda.
But many politicians, including American president Donald Trump, use the phrase to try to discredit news organisations reporting information they don’t agree with or they think is untrue. CNN, The New York Times and Buzzfeed have all been deemed ‘fake news’ by Trump.
However, it appears Trump is peddling fake news to his own Facebook page.
Trump shared an article to his Facebook page claiming that Kuwait has issued a travel ban that’s similar to his own (which has been halted by Homeland Security).
However, it appears to be total propaganda. According to Reuters, Kuwait’s foreign ministry “categorically denies these claims and affirms that these reported nationalities … have big communities in Kuwait and enjoy full rights.”
But at time of publishing the article remains on Trump’s Facebook page, and has garnered 250,000 likes and has been shared over 68,000 times.
It comes days after Trump’s advisor Kellyanne Conway seemingly made up a terror attack. Conway cited a nonexistent “massacre” as justification for President Donald Trump’s temporary immigration ban.