"The Fake News King" built a faux empire that soon grew to mimic the media monolith it satirized, potentially swaying the 2016 presidential election. Virality and reality intertwine.
Ordained "The King of Fake News" by NPR, Jestin Coler built a network of websites meant to "infiltrate the echo chambers" of the alt-right. His empire soon grew to embody the media monolith it satirized, garnering over 100 million views and potentially swaying the election (which was swung by a mere 0.06% of the voting population).
As the 2020 elections approach and Coler's techniques are adopted by armies of fake news purveyors, virality and reality intertwine in front of our eyes, leaving truth in the eye of the beholder. In the famously flubbed words of former president George W. Bush, "There's an old saying in Tennessee...Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me, can't get fooled again." Or can we?
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