Fake news, hoaxes and scams existed long before Facebook. People just use Facebook more, things can spread faster, and all in all it amplifies an existing probl

Fake news, hoaxes and scams existed long before Facebook. People just use Facebook more, things can spread faster, and all in all it amplifies an existing problem. Email forwards (and in their newer reincarnation, at least in the Middle East, Whatsapp forwards) spread false news for as long as I remember using the internet. A part time job for me was to respond and debunk these emails when they landed in my inbox. I even put in the time to explain to people how to spot false information (e.g. if the email ends with "forward this to x number of people or else" is 100% a hoax or a scam). Maybe Facebook -- as our times' Master Switch -- can fix this, and for the first time we'll be happy with centralization.