New poll shows 75% of people believe fake news articles

A clear majority of people surveyed in new research from Ipsos Public Affairs and Buzzfeed said that they have believed fake news headlines they have seen in the past.

The controversy surrounding fake news appearing on various social media platforms is rumbling on after first coming to light in the aftermath of Donald Trump's victory in his campaign to become the president of the United States.

Other results seen from the survey include a likelihood of many news consumers to be fooled by false stories, even if it is not in line with their ideological viewpoint.

The research was carried out by Ipsos, with over 3,000 adults in the United States participating in the first known study of its kind relating to fabricated news articles.

"The 2016 election may mark the point in modern political history when information and disinformation became a dominant electoral currency," said Ipsos' Chris Jackson.

"Public opinion, as reflected in this survey, showed that 'fake news' was remembered by a significant portion of the electorate and those stories were seen as credible."

Among the headlines that were believed to be accurate by most of those surveyed were "FBI Agent Suspected in Hillary Email Leaks Found Dead in Apparent Murder-Suicide", which 72% believed to be accurate, and "Donald Trump Sent His Own Plane to Transport 200 Stranded Marines", which 84% believed to be accurate.

Last month, Facebook was the first social media platform to acknowledge the problem of false news, and said that it was taking measures to combat the phenomenon. Just this week Mark Zuckerberg's company appealed to its users to help them to identify misleading stories.