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23 Tex. Rev. L. & Pol. 111 (2018-2019)
How to Tell a Fake: Fighting Back against Fake News on the Front Lines of Social Media

handle is hein.journals/trlp23 and id is 123 raw text is: 






How TO TELL A FAKE: FIGHTING BACK AGAINST FAKE
     NEWS ON THE FRONT LINES OF SOCIAL MEDIA

                         RYAN M. WALTERS*

                              ABSTRACT
        In the span of afew years, fake news slithered out from the recesses
    of the web to ultimately become one of the greatest threats to civil political
    discourse. This digital menace has capitalized on the consumer shift to
    online news consumption-in particular, the increasing trend of news
    consumers migrating to social media sites. However, the incredible
    breadth ofFirst Amendment restrictions, including broad protection for
    false political speech, significantly limits the viability of most potential
    statutory and regulatory solutions to fake news.
        Another fundamental obstacle in the fight against fake news has
    been that even scholars cannot agree on a consistent definition for it.
    Fake news has a notoriously amorphous meaning which creates
    signficant confusion about what it actually is. To remedy this problem,
    this Article proposes a straightforward definition for fake news that
    accurately describes the phenomenon, specifically: (a) content holding
    itself out as a news piece (b) that makes objectively false assertions that
    given events have occurred (c) in a materially false manner.
        Building off this definition, this Artile proposes an objective falsity
    standard to identifyfake news. This standard offers ajlexible tool that
    scholars and courts can apply in a wide variety of contexts where fake
    news rears its ugly head. Lastly, this Article proposes statutory
    enhancements to the federal Communications Decency Act given its
    central role in society's defense against fake news. Without violating
    any First Amendment restrictions, the immunity that this statute grants
    to website providers allows them to wage the constant battle online
    against fake news.

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