French President Emmanuel Macron received a standing ovation Wednesday when he said the world must fight against the “virus of fake news.”
“To protect our democracies, we have to fight against the ever-growing virus of fake news, which exposes our people to irrational fear and imaginary risk,” Macron said in a joint meeting before Congress Wednesday. “And let me attribute for a copyright for fake news, especially here.”
“Without reason, without truth, there’s no real democracy. Because democracy is about true choices and rationale decisions. The corruption of information is an attempt to corrode the very spirit of our democracies,” Macron added.
Macron: “To protect our democracies, we have to fight against the evergrowing virus of fake news which exposes our people to irrational fear and imaginary risk. And let me attribute a copyright for fake news, especially here” pic.twitter.com/X1ss1oHQwS
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) April 25, 2018
Macron was referring to false stories published on websites that mimic legitimate news organizations, which were widespread during the 2016 election. Since the election, President Trump appropriated the term and used it as a criticism of mainstream press outlets critical of his administration.
