The New York Times noted in a December 2016 article that fake news had previously maintained a presence on the Internet and within tabloid journalism in years prior to the 2016 U.S. election.[12] However, prior to the election between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, fake news had not impacted the election process to such a high degree.[12] Subsequent to that election, the issue of fake news turned into a political weapon between supporters of Clinton and Trump; due to these back-and-forth complaints, the definition of fake news as used for such argumentation became vaguer.[12]