It's racking up "shares", "likes", and angry threads across social media today...and it's totally false.

You may have seen a post shared today that declares that President Donald Trump will be ending Child Support in 2018. You may have even commented on a conversation around this post. Perhaps you even shared it on your Facebook.

The post is attributed to a site called "React365" which is a fake site designed to generate clicks with hoax content. The purpose of these sites are to generate revenue through Google Ads; basically the more clicks they get, the more Google pays them.

Here's what the post reads:

"Donald trump and congress members held a meeting to pass a law stating that in 2018 all fathers that's on child support will be taken off and women will no longer be able to put men on child support no matter if he doing for his child or not. Trump also stated " we have men that's paying child support and they still can't see their kids or they paying child support and the female parent is not using that money for a good need or doesn't spend a dime on that child/kids. So my goal is to have this law passed before we enter into 2018. I am your president of the united states may we make America great again."

All of this is false. Sites like Hoax Alert were quick to take up an investigation into this post, but unfortunately these type of posts do not go viral as fast as the originals. Which is why I wanted to post this today. Feel free to share this post around whenever you see the hoax post go up.

Fake news posts like this can actually cause harm in a couple of ways:

1. They can infect your browsers with malware, causing you to inadvertently download more malware, or even viruses, to your computer, tablet, or phone.

2. People get way too worked up over these types of posts, and can strain relationships with family and friends, all over completely false content.

Watching posts like this explode in a viral fashion shows how easy it is to penetrate, and influence, the American society today. So next time someone suggests that misinformation on social media can influence policy or public perception, remember this exact moment.

 

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