Think back to the 2020 election period. Remember all the different stories talking about fake news. It seems like they were accurate with Facebook and Twitter reported in 2020 that the Internet Research Agency, a Russian military-backed agency, attempted to spread fake news to help Donald Trump win the 2020 election. (Does Fake News Pose a Significant Threat to Democracy?) How much of an effect did this have on who won the election? Firstly, the meaning of fake news is "false stories that appear to be news, spread on the internet or using other media, usually created to influence political views or as a joke." (Cambridge Dictionary.) Fake news affects democracy, and we should find a way to try and get rid of it. 

Firstly, fake news reveals a mixed signal for democracy, which means voters may not know what to believe. The public may think that governments are in the power of fake news and would not vote for them. Sharing phony information is a threat to democracy in America, making voters highly likely to elect poor governments again, and could ruin the public's confidence in a democracy. (James R. Hollyer.)       

Secondly, fake news isn't your standard misinformation or disinformation. It is written to puzzle the public in what they know. Truth is essential in a democracy. Fake news ruins a democracy. (Neal Gabler.) When journaling, not everything you write is true. Journalists write to their best knowledge ensuring the truth is told. Fake news, though, is intentionally wrong and done on purpose. In a free society, what the USA claims to be, it is hard to define fake news and journalism. It's expensive to produce quality news but easy to make and share fake news or political views. The economics of news-gathering and local newspapers have collapsed over the last 20 years. During this time, journalists lost their jobs quicker than coal miners showing how jobs that look for quality data are declining rapidly. (Ruth Marcus)

On the other side, people argue that only a small group of people see these fake news stories, and those who see them already support the candidate. For example, the Pope endorsing Trump will get heard by many people on social media and discussed on the news. Still, they won't change people's minds or decide who wins the election. (Ira Basin.) In 2017, Matthew Gentzkow, a Stanford professor, published a paper that showed how many voters were influenced by fake stories. He posted a survey to test what people remembered from the affected accounts. They also looked at the web traffic data to see how many people shared the fake stories. They figured out that the average American only read one to two fake accounts, and they likely didn't change their opinion on the topics. However, I don't think that this is very true because I believe that if you see something terrible about your candidate that doesn't fit with your moral beliefs, you will stop supporting them, meaning that your vote has changed. 

As shown, fake news affects people's democracy. It gives mixed signals to voters and decreases the value of actual journalism. People say that these fake stories don't affect people's votes, but I think that if it is something wrong, it can affect the vote.