The Mancunian Way: A real threat to democracy

Misinformation, disinformation, propaganda or plain old lies - whatever you want to call it fake news has always been around. But as technology advances it’s becoming harder and harder to spot and easier than ever to spread.

Today the Manchester Evening Newsrevealed how fake Facebook posts and other manipulated images are being used to smear councillors in Salford. Tory Les Turner was accused of attending a far right rally in 2011 in a post which included an image of him and his wife holding England flags.

It was a lie. In fact the photo was taken before the rally ever took place during a protest about a proposed school closure.

And earlier this year, the M.E.N. received an email with three images purporting to be screenshots of fellow Conservative councillor Bob Clarke posting on Facebook. The posts, which turned out to be fake, used racist language and expressed Islamophobic sentiments.

They’re just two examples of how widely the practice has spread and how toxic the discourse has become.

“We've seen just how dangerous disinformation can be with the riots that followed the Southport stabbings,” says M.E.N. politics writer Joseph Timan. “Journalists have to really scrutinise and question everything even more.

“In some ways, these councillors in Salford were lucky because they were able to prove that the posts purporting to be by them were actually fake.

“Les Turner relied on campaign material dating back more than a decade that he happened to hold onto to prove the claims he attended a far-right rally were false while Bob Clarke was able to point out mistakes made by whoever was behind the fake posts purporting to be him. Had they not been able to prove their innocence, this could have ruined their careers.

“And