Anger makes fake news viral online

Understand

Fake news that manipulates political elections, strikes financial systems, and even incites riots is more viral than real news online, resulting in unstable societies and buffeted democracy.

• The easier contagion of fake news online can be causally explained by the greater anger it carries.
• The same results in Twitter and Weibo indicate that this mechanism is independent of the platform.
• Moreover, mutations in emotions like increasing anger will progressively speed up the information spread.