Although fake news has been something that existed long before the 2016 American election, it was highlighted this year both for its prominence and its influence. Some have even suggested that it even had an impact on the result of the election. Many fake news sites which play to partisan’s concerns and emotions have popped up.

A lot of these fake news creators may not even believe the ideology they put forth but rather exist simply to create traffic and make a quick buck through advertising revenue. In other words, they don’t care at all whether their content is true, or if it even aligns with their own beliefs, as long as it makes a profit.

Some are putting the blame on companies such as Facebook and Google for allowing these fakes news stories to be spread. Both Facebook and Google now say they will take steps to combat these fake news producers by not allowing them to make profits off ad revenue. Although, some have suggested that Facebook should outright ban fake news content. The process of doing so, I think would both infringe on their users freedoms, and be impractical and to implement.

While I do think that the many fake stories floating about are damaging to the public, I don’t think removing access to them will help the situation. The people that are reading these kinds of stories often already harbor a lot of distrust. If their news sources and stories suddenly start disappearing, it would only serve to fuel their beliefs that the media is hiding the truth from us. Many would probably think that these stories are being removed because the “powers that be” don’t want us to “know the truth.” To the person that buys into these fake news stories, getting rid of them would likely only make them look harder to find them.

Also Facebook is not a journalistic organization, but a social media platform. They have never claimed that anything posted by their users must be accurate, and I don’t think it makes sense for them to demand that. There are many questionable things that have been put on television, but it doesn’t mean that the person who made the TV is to blame. Facebook is merely a platform for the world to share to share ideas and information with each other. Not allowing their users to post and share the content that interests them, whether it’s true or not, infringes on their freedom of speech.

However, I think the approach of removing the ability to profit off of it, which Facebook and Google said they plan to do, is the most responsible approach. If there is big profit in spreading misinformation through social media, then more will be encouraged to do so. By taking away the profitability, you take away the incentive to create the content.

Buzzfeed recently reported that residents of a town in Macedonia had launched more than 140 U.S. political news sites. These sites mainly contained fakes news that attracted a conservative pro-Trump audience. While I don’t think its Facebook’s job to police content, I think it’s wise for them to discourage the ability to make a business out of fake news.

Google also came under fire when one of the top results for a search on “final election result” was a story that Donald trump won the popular vote. Google has said that it has changed its algorithm’s over the years to try to filter out these kinds of false stories, but still this one slipped through.

While Facebook and Google are simply platforms for information to be shared, they do have some control over what people see first. I think Google should continue to improve on bringing the most valuable, and relevant information to us first. If entirely fabricated stories like this come up as a top result, it unintentionally gives legitimization to something that doesn’t deserve it.

But while Google and Facebook can play a part in combating the spread of false information, I think the biggest culprit in the spread of fake news is often our political biases. There are fake news stories that are aimed both at liberal and conservative biases. The best thing you can do is not to believe something just because it agrees with your political agenda. These fake news producers carefully craft these stories to provoke an emotional reaction. Don’t take something for fact just because it agrees with the way you feel.