Fake News Sites Banned from Buying Ads on Facebook

Fake news sites have grown in number due to the the rapid pace of advances in technology and the increase in social media sites allowing instant updates on breaking news and trending stories. Everyday, we are swamped with news stories whenever use a smart phone or log onto Facebook or email. It is also easy to pass these news stories on to other people by simply clicking on the share button. With a single click, a fake news site story can be sent to thousands of people around the world. The 2016 U.S. election shows us just how fast a fake news site story can reach millions.

Fake news sites dot the landscape on platforms like Facebook and Google. Unfortunately, such sites play a dangerous game of misinformation. They've even proved lucrative for the perpetrators. Facebook and Google recently took efforts to ban fake news sites, though. With these efforts, perhaps the flood of fake news will lessen in a noticeable way.

On social media, fake news rose to popularity with the US election more so than ever before. Such sites found their way into Google search results and Google News. This type of news spreads inaccurate information on purpose rather than pushing a particular opinion or belief.

Google's policies now state that sites cannot misstate or misrepresent information. If a site breaks the policy, then it could lose Google AdSense privileges. Of course, fake news sites depend upon Google AdSense revenue in order to turn a profit from misinformation.