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THE GREAT HACK
IF you’ve watched the recent events in the US with the same slackened jaw and disbelief I have, this new HBO documentary will leave you even more shell-shocked. The insidious rise of the term ‘fake news’ – designed to distort the truth and disorient the consumer – has exploded under the presidency of Donald Trump, who has weaponised it against anyone critical of his conduct or infrequent policy positions. But it did not begin with his election. It was first used against Barack Obama, who was victimised over everything from his birth certificate to his religious status and other wild conspiracies that have flourished with the help of social media platforms like Facebook. How we counter ‘fake news’ in a ‘post-truth’ world is arguably a fight to save democracy itself.