Why Fake News Works: Internet Audiences Cannot Be Bothered

Yesterday, I had a pretty rattling exchange on Facebook. (I know — a bad back-and-forth on Facebook?! Inconceivable!) The headline reading “Hollywood Film Depicts Trump Supporters Being Hunted for Sport by Liberals” appeared in my feed, and immediately my “Peter Tingle” kicked into overdrive. I went to Google and looked up “The Hunt, 2019 film” as that was what this news article (not flagged by Facebook, mind you) was pertaining to. The official plot of The Hunt is as follows:

Twelve strange...