Many claim that fake news played a major role in Donald Trump's election victory.
The fake news trend has now taken a hold of Christmas as a 'Happy Hour Playset' for kids has sparked intense outrage — but the product does not exist.
Read: Teen Bullied Online for More Than a Year Kills Herself in Front of Her Family
The box, which shows three kids lounging at a bar with a Fisher Price logo above had parents fuming when it made the rounds on the internet this week.
“Fisher Price has gone too far,” a concerned citizen posted on social media.
“Can't believe they make this horrible stuff for kids,” said another.
The backlash was so intense that Fisher Price quickly released a statement about the product saying, "this product is not endorsed, produced or approved by Fisher Price."
It's one of the latest examples of fake news clogging the internet, sometimes with disastrous consequences.
Stories like “President Obama Bans the National Anthem,” “The Pope Endorses Donald Trump,” and “Donald Trump Requiring All Muslims to Wear Badges,” flooded peoples timelines on social media.
Some say that fake news helped swing the election to Donald Trump.
A man allegedly opened fire inside a Washington, D.C., pizza restaurant over the weekend, claiming he was investigating a child sex abuse ring linked to Hillary Clinton, another story found to be completely untrue.
Clinton, who appeared in Washington Thursday, called on Congress to combat fake news.
“Fake news can have real-world consequences. This isn't about politics or partisanship. Lives are at risk, lives of ordinary people just trying to go about their days, to do their jobs, contribute to their communities,” she said.
Paul Horner is one of the kings of fake news. He claims to have made up to $10,000 a month from phony articles, and the 38-year-old is unrepentant.
“I wrote a story about Obama keeping a Muslim museum open with his own money,” he proudly told Inside Edition.
Read: Sinister Design or Pure Coincidence? Trump Appears to Have Devil Horns on 'TIME' Cover
Horner is a stand-up comedian working clubs in the Phoenix area and once wrote a story that Hillary Clinton had her campaign pay people $3,500 to disrupt Trump rallies.
Horner said that story was “100 percent false” and said he writes these stories because he “loves journalism.”
Fake news is not just an American trend; one small town in Macedonia has gotten rich from publishing phony articles.
According to the BBC, many of the fake news sites that popped up during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign came from the tiny city of Veles, Macedonia, where hoax pro-Trump stories are pumped out daily.
And the sensationalist writers who produce the content earn boatloads of revenue from advertisers on the fake sites to do so.
"The Americans loved our stories and we make money from them," a 19-year-old named Goran told the BBC.
The teenager said he made almost $2,000 a month in revenue from his bogus stories, and has no regrets.
"Teenagers in our city don't care how Americans vote," he told the network. "They are only satisfied that they make money and can buy expensive clothes and drinks!"
Watch: Comedian Who Writes Fake News Claims: Trump Won the Election Because of Me
