By Brad Kayton and Richie Hecker

In the three months leading up the November election last year there were more engagement by readers on Facebook (clicks, shares, etc.) on the Top 20 fake news stories (8.7M) than on the Top 20 real news stories (7.4M), according to a recent analysis by Buzzfeed. 17 out of 20 of these top fake news stories were either pro-Trump or anti-Clinton. And the flood of it all was so extreme it was hard to know what was real and what was not, at least for a lot of people. People are outraged. Many have blamed the election outcome on fake news. Yet, fake news is as American as apple pie and dates back to the founding of our Republic. As Thomas Jefferson said, an informed citizenry is the only true repository of the pubic will. However, what happens when the citizenly is intentionally misinformed - would this count as the theft of the public will?