Is $100 Million Enough To Defeat Fake News?

Pierre Omidyar, the billionaire founder of eBay Inc EBAY, just pegged $100 million to fight the rise of "fake news."

Omidyar's philanthropic venture Omidyar Network is tackling the growth of fake news reports, which have already led to a "global trust deficit" and contributed toward the growing division between government and society, according to a CNBC report.

In fact, the Edelman Trust Barometer, an annual trust and credibility survey, found that people living within 2/3 of the world's major economies have a trust level of less than 50 percent in mainstream institutions.

Omidyar will allocate $4.5 million to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), the consortium of professionals best known for uncovering the Panama Papers report last year. Other groups that will receive funding include Alianza Latinoamericana para la Tecnologia Civica, a group designed to promote transparency in Latin America, and The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), an organization dedicated to combating anti-Semitism.

"A lack of government responsiveness and a growing distrust in institutions, especially the media, are eroding trust," Omidyar Network Managing Partner Matt Bannick was quoted by CNBC as saying. "Increasingly, facts are being devalued, misinformation spread, accountability ignored and channels that give citizens a voice withdrawn."

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