Fake News Site Southend News Network Claims Full Responsibility for Donald Trump Victory

fake news facebook google media
Puppets of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump face-off at a mock debate, New York, September 26. Fake news has been blamed for losing Hillary Clinton the election. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri

Pope Francis endorsed Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton is a lesbian and also the leader of an underground paedophile ring. None of this is true, but the dissemination of these fake stories—and numerous others like it—through Google and Facebook has been blamed for swinging the election in Trump's favor.

The uproar has led both Google and Facebook to announce measures to prevent fake news stories from appearing on their news feeds, prompting a response from a fake news site affected by the measures.

The satirical Southend News Network, which is set to lose readers and advertising revenue, claimed "full responsibility" for Trump's election victory.

"Southend News Network would like to take this opportunity to issue a full and frank apology," the statement reads. "Southend News Network fully accepts that internet users cannot possibly be expected to critically analyze the content that they are reading."

The tongue-in-cheek statement goes on to apologize for its role in Brexit, as well as "England's woeful Euro 2016 performance, and the cancellation of [1980s' children's TV show] Button Moon—the latter was the most painful thing to admit of all."

Pope Francis Shocks World, Endorses Donald Trump for President, Releases Statement #RedNationRising https://t.co/XhnAFxgSmd

— Red Nation Rising (@RedNationRising) October 14, 2016

In a wide-ranging interview with the BBC this week, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said that fake news stories appearing on Google News and across social media may have affected the outcome of the election.

"I think there is a lot of discussion about this in the context of social media," Pichai said. "It is important to remember this was a very close election and so, just for me, so looking at it scientifically, one in a hundred voters voting one way or the other swings the election either way.

"So, when you talk about such narrow margins, obviously there are many, many contributing factors and so I think there is enormous debate because of that—I am not fully sure what caused this."

Hillary Clinton: Lesbian Demon, Pedophile, and Child Rapist https://t.co/aqbL9X3TNc

— Esoteric Exposal (@EsotericExposal) August 20, 2016

An array of factors have been cited for Trump's victory on November 8, including Clinton's email scandal and the FBI's decision to reopen the investigation less than two weeks before election day, Democrat supporters choosing to back third-party candidates like Jill Stein, Gary Johnson and Zoltan Istvan, and general disillusionment with the political elite.

These reasons, according to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, had a greater influence on the election result than any fake news stories being shared online.

"Personally, I think the idea that fake news—of which it's a small amount of content—influenced the election is a pretty crazy idea," Zuckerberg said. "Voters make decisions based on their lived experience."

Despite this, Facebook will follow Google in doing more to "restrict" the distribution of fake articles in its News Feed.

To this, Southend News Network replied: "We welcome Facebook and Google's collective attempt to cut our balls off before one more person gets cruelly suckered by our content."

Uncommon Knowledge

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

About the writer


Anthony Cuthbertson is a staff writer at Newsweek, based in London.  

Anthony's awards include Digital Writer of the Year (Online ... Read more

To read how Newsweek uses AI as a newsroom tool, Click here.

Newsweek cover
  • Newsweek magazine delivered to your door
  • Newsweek Voices: Diverse audio opinions
  • Enjoy ad-free browsing on Newsweek.com
  • Comment on articles
  • Newsweek app updates on-the-go
Newsweek cover
  • Newsweek Voices: Diverse audio opinions
  • Enjoy ad-free browsing on Newsweek.com
  • Comment on articles
  • Newsweek app updates on-the-go