Researchers investigating the spread of true and fake news have made some important discoveries. Important not so much because the discoveries are surprising, but because the discoveries provide data on an important problem.
Fake news spreads faster than the truth. – not surprising – people like the unexpected and are prone to be attracted to conspiracies. Such “information” is simply more exciting.
We are the culprits – this is the most important finding. The Russians or other bad actors may launch fake news. Bots may spread news of all types. It is the personal touch, the forwarding of fake news by individuals we recognize that gets our attention and causes damaging ideas to be spread.