Geographic and Temporal Trends in Fake News Consumption During the 2016 US Presidential Election

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Fourney ◽  
Miklos Z. Racz ◽  
Gireeja Ranade ◽  
Markus Mobius ◽  
Eric Horvitz
Keyword(s):  
Presidential Election ◽  
Temporal Trends ◽  
Fake News ◽  
News Consumption ◽  
Us Presidential Election

scholarly journals The anatomy of ‘fake news’: Studying false messages as digital objects

2021 ◽  
pp. 026839622110376
Author(s):  
Ali Khan ◽  
Kathryn Brohman ◽  
Shamel Addas
Keyword(s):  
Presidential Election ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Public Concern ◽  
Body Of Knowledge ◽  
Conceptual Clarity ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Digital Objects ◽  
Us Presidential Election ◽  
Current Terminology ◽  
Do So

Public concern about ‘fake news’ skyrocketed following the 2016 US presidential election and the Brexit referendum, and has only intensified since then. A burgeoning body of research on the topic is emerging, and conceptual clarity is vital for this research to converge into a cumulative body of knowledge; the purpose of this article is to underline and address some of the conceptual clutter and ambiguities around the concept of fake news and situate it within its social context. To do so, we first discuss the problems with current terminology and conceptualisation, and then draw on recent developments on the ontology of digital objects and their attributes to shift the focus from fake news to false messages, a type of syntactic digital objects comprised of content and structure and characterised by attributes of editability, openness, interactivity, and distributedness. Then we expand this concept further by placing it within a network of actors and digital objects. Our analysis uncovers several areas of research that have been overlooked in the study of fake news.

Proposing a model of social media user interaction with fake news

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Abhijeet R. Shirsat ◽  
Angel F. González ◽  
Judith J. May
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Presidential Election ◽  
Exploratory Study ◽  
Media Use ◽  
Public Policies ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Social Media Use ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Us Presidential Election ◽  
Media Environments

Purpose This study aims to understand the allure and danger of fake news in social media environments and propose a theoretical model of the phenomenon. Design/methodology/approach This qualitative research study used the uses and gratifications theory (UGT) approach to analyze how and why people used social media during the 2016 US presidential election. Findings The thematic analysis revealed people were gratified after using social media to connect with friends and family and to gather and share information and after using it as a vehicle of expression. Participants found a significant number of fake news stories on social media during the 2016 US presidential election. Participants tried to differentiate between fake news and real news using fact-checking websites and news sources and interacted with the social media users who posted fake news and became part of the echo chamber. Behaviors like these emerged in the analysis that could not be completely explained by UGT and required further exploration which resulted in a model that became the core of this study. Research limitations/implications This is a small-scale exploratory study with eight diverse participants, findings should not be generalized to larger populations. Time-specific self-reporting of information from social media and fake news during the 2016 US presidential election. Upgrading public policies related to social media is recommended in the study, contributing to burgeoning policy discussions and provides recommendations for both purveyors of social media and public policymakers. Practical implications Upgrade in public policies related to social media is recommended in the study and contributes to burgeoning policy discussions and provides recommendations for both purveyors of social media and public policymakers. Social implications Social media users are spending increased time on their preferred platforms. This study increases the understanding of the nature, function and transformation of virtual social media environments and their effects on real individuals, cultures and societies.What is original/of value about the paper?This exploratory study establishes the foundation on which to expand research in the area of social media use and fake news. Originality/value This exploratory study establishes the foundation to expand research in the area of social media use and fake news.

The narrative that wasn’t: what passes for discourse in the age of Trump

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 225-241
Author(s):  
Emily R Anderson
Keyword(s):  
News Media ◽  
Presidential Election ◽  
Political Discourse ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
Political Narratives ◽  
Us Presidential Election ◽  
Discursive Power

This article considers political discourse and the role it played in the 2016 US presidential election while paying particular attention to its construction of narrative. Foucault’s understanding of discourse and power frames the argument that Donald Trump successfully abandoned political narratives. Instead, he often used idiosyncratic language, instances in which the surface of a statement outshines its content. These normally appear in Trump’s tweets and culminate in his invective against the ‘fake news’ media. In order to respond to Trump, his interlocutors must posit a premise and then refute it; in even granting that there is a premise, one must take Trump on his own terms. Trump thus disrupts the direction of traditional discursive power.

scholarly journals Measuring the news and its impact on democracy

2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (15) ◽  
pp. e1912443118
Author(s):  
Duncan J. Watts ◽  
David M. Rothschild ◽  
Markus Mobius
Keyword(s):  
Presidential Election ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
Political Polarization ◽  
Research Projects ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Proper Understanding ◽  
News Organizations ◽  
Us Presidential Election ◽  
Per Se ◽  
Incorrect Information

Since the 2016 US presidential election, the deliberate spread of misinformation online, and on social media in particular, has generated extraordinary concern, in large part because of its potential effects on public opinion, political polarization, and ultimately democratic decision making. Recently, however, a handful of papers have argued that both the prevalence and consumption of “fake news” per se is extremely low compared with other types of news and news-relevant content. Although neither prevalence nor consumption is a direct measure of influence, this work suggests that proper understanding of misinformation and its effects requires a much broader view of the problem, encompassing biased and misleading—but not necessarily factually incorrect—information that is routinely produced or amplified by mainstream news organizations. In this paper, we propose an ambitious collective research agenda to measure the origins, nature, and prevalence of misinformation, broadly construed, as well as its impact on democracy. We also sketch out some illustrative examples of completed, ongoing, or planned research projects that contribute to this agenda.

scholarly journals The Macedonian Fake News Industry and the 2016 US Election

2020 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-23
Author(s):  
Heather C. Hughes ◽  
Israel Waismel-Manor
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Young People ◽  
Presidential Election ◽  
Online Course ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Economic Motivation ◽  
Expert Teacher ◽  
English Fluency ◽  
News Industry ◽  
Us Presidential Election

ABSTRACTDuring the 2016 US presidential election, Americans were exposed to an onslaught of disinformation on social media. Many of the most viral posts originated from Veles, a small town in central Macedonia. During fieldwork in Veles, where we interviewed several residents and disinformation creators, we found that the epicenter of this viral phenomenon was Mirko Ceselkoski, an autodidact social media expert, teacher, and mentor to Veles’ fake news operators. We interviewed Ceselkoski and registered and attended his online course—the same course numerous Veles residents took offline. Our research confirms (1) the pivotal role Ceselkoski had in the creation of this industry; (2) the economic motivation driving the fake news disseminators; and (3) the manner in which the mostly young people in their early twenties with little English fluency were able to generate so much traffic and disseminate so much disinformation.

scholarly journals Why librarians can’t fight fake news

2018 ◽  
Vol 51 (4) ◽  
pp. 1146-1156 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Connor Sullivan
Keyword(s):  
Presidential Election ◽  
Information Science ◽  
The United States ◽  
Library And Information Science ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Current Crisis ◽  
The Core ◽  
Other Information ◽  
Us Presidential Election ◽  
Information Professionals

In the wake of the panic over fake news that followed the 2016 US presidential election, librarians and other information professionals are being urged to “take leadership in the current crisis” (Jacobson, 2017: 24). The response from the profession has been to reaffirm the core values of librarianship and to hold up traditional services as a means for combating misinformation. The problem is that these solutions are offered in the absence of a full understanding of the real danger of misinformation, which is “not just [that] misinformation is ‘out there,’” but “what misinformation does to our mind” (Ecker, 2015: 22). Misinformation research in other fields directly challenges the solutions proposed by library professionals and casts doubts on their underlying assumptions. This article provides an overview of the library and information science approach to misinformation in the United States, discusses the shortcomings of that approach, and points to possible next steps for remedying the problem.

scholarly journals Effect Fake News for Democracy

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 307-318
Author(s):  
Munadhil Abdul Muqsith ◽  
Valerii Leonidovich Muzykant
Keyword(s):  
Information And Communication Technology ◽  
Communication Technology ◽  
Presidential Election ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Literature Study ◽  
False Information ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Information And Communication ◽  
Us Presidential Election

AbstractThis paper aims to explain how fake news impacts democracy. This phenomenon is called the post-truth era. The development of information and communication technology is increasing the spread of information so that difficult to distinguish between true and false information. The research method uses normative juridical method, using secondary data obtained through literature study and qualitative analysis. The result and discussion of this research are serious threat from fake news for democracy, because it can cause social cohesion in the community. Some examples of how its impact on the world include the U.S. presidential election 2016, the Brexit referendum in the United Kingdom in 2016 and the 2017 French presidential election.Keywords: Fake News, Democracy, US Presidential Election, Brexit AbstrakMakalah ini bertujuan untuk menjelaskan bagaimana berita palsu berdampak pada demokrasi. Fenomena ini disebut era pasca-kebenaran. Perkembangan teknologi informasi dan komunikasi meningkatkan penyebaran informasi sehingga sulit untuk membedakan antara informasi yang benar dan yang salah. Metode penelitian menggunakan metode yuridis normatif, menggunakan data sekunder yang diperoleh melalui studi literatur dan dianalisis secara kualitatif. Hasil dan diskusi penelitian ini merupakan ancaman serius dari berita palsu untuk demokrasi karena dapat menyebabkan kohesi sosial di masyarakat. Beberapa contoh bagaimana dampaknya terhadap dunia termasuk pemilihan presiden Amerika Serikat 2016, referendum Brexit di Inggris pada tahun 2016 dan pemilihan presiden Prancis 2017.Kata kunci: Berita Palsu, Demokrasi, Pemilihan Presiden AS, Brexit АннотацияЦель этой статьи - объяснить, как ложные новости влияют на демократию. Это явление называется эрой пост-правды. Развитие информационных и коммуникационных технологий увеличивает распространение информации, поэтому трудно различить правдивую и ложную информацию. Данное исследование использует нормативно-юридический метод и вторичные данные, полученные в результате изучения литературы и проанализируемые  качественным методом. Результаты и обсуждение этого исследования показывают, что ложные новости представляют серьезную угрозу для демократии, потому что они могут вызвать социальную сплоченность в обществе. Некоторые примеры того, какое влияние на мир оказывают президентские выборы 2016 года в США, Референдум Брексит в Великобритании в 2016 году и президентские выборы во Франции 2017 года.Ключевые слова: поддельные новости, демократия, президентские выборы США, Брексит

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