Profiteers have flooded social media with fake news and bogus videos since a powerful earthquake devastated Myanmar last month, exploiting the chaos with clickbait that can reap tens of thousands in ad revenues, digital activists say.
Be it sensational images that go viral or fake rescue tales, the schemes prey on the heightened fears and appetite for news that follow any disaster or outbreak of war.
"People just have to assume there's a lot of false information that circulates. They should be aware there are people making money off of false information," said Darrell West, a senior technology researcher at the Brookings Institution think tank.
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