Week 3: The World of Digital Misinformation

Falsehoods

Statement that is false or misleading, whether wholly or in part, and whether on its own or in the context in which it appears

Misinformation

the inadvertent sharing of false information

Disinformations

the intentional dissemination of false information

Fake News

Specific type of falsehood intentionally packaged to look like news to deceive others

Fake news as FAKE News

- Knowingly false headline/story that is designed to look like a real site and spread via social media

Financial & Ideological gain

Motivations for fake news

financial (advertising revenue by attracting clicks)

ideological (personal agenda, political, weapons of mass information)

What makes people vulnerable

Sender - credible? trustworthy?

Receiver - confirmation bias, motivations, corrections

Message - format, plausibility

Channel - trusted? open/closed?

Context - information overload, instability

Who is the actual source of the message?

- Original source

- Immediate source

- Invisible source

- Trusted source

- Disregarded source

Focus on message characteristics

- Plausibile?

- Experts mentioned?

- Conversational tone?

- Stired emotion?

- Ask to forward?

Channel where information flows

- Popularity cues

- Reliance

- Lack of gatekeeping

- Information overload

Impact of using Social Media for News

Higher social media news use = higher likelihood to believe in fake news

Characteristics of audience

- Those who actively avoid news about COVID-19 are more likely to believe in misinformation

Informational behavior & News avoidance

Confirmation bias, motivations for sharing

Informational apathy

- Issue relevance

- Interpersonal relationships

- Personal efficacy

Consequences of Fake News

- The notion of "harms"

- Short/Long-term effects

Short-term risks

-Political decisions

- Business

- Peace and order

- Reputation

Long-term risks

⁃ Devaluation of information

⁃ Erosion of trust in institutions

⁃ Larger social divisions

⁃ Chilling effect

Internal acts of authentication

- Self: judge and think for ourselves

- Source: check if reliable

- Message: check tone to determine if polemical or deliberately misleading

- Message cues: more likes

External acts of authentication

- Incidental and interpersonal: through words of mouth from friends/relatives

- Incidental and institutional: wait to see a correction/follow up article

- Intentional and interpersonal: ask someone to help verify

- Intentional and institutional: Google to see if there are reports on mainstream news sites

Authentication as a social process

- Motivations for authenticating: self-image, group cohesion

- Strategies of authentication: group beliefs, source affiliation, sharing as authenticating

- Consequences of authentication: institution of interdependence, ritualisation of collective authentication

POFMA

An Act to prevent the electronic communication in Singapore of falsestatement of fact, to suppress support for and counteract the effectsof such communication, to safeguard against the use of onlineaccounts for such communication and for information manipulation,to enable measures to be taken to enhance transparency of onlinepolitical advertisements, and for related matters.

What is "False" (POFMA)?

- fact is when reasonable person would consider it to be a representation of a fact

- false is when it is false/misleading whether wholly or in part. depends on context

What constitutes as communicating?

- Made available to >1 end-users in Singapore through the internet

- Made available to more end-users through internet/MMS/SMS

"Public Interest"

- Interest of security of SG

- Protect public health/finances/safety/tranquility

- Interest of friendly relation of SG with other countries

- prevent influence of outcome of an election to President/MP/by-election of MP

- Prevent incitement of feelings of enmity/hatred/ill-will between different groups of persons

- Precent dimunition of public confidence in performance of any duty/function of govt/organ of state/stat board

Tech companies - degree of direct intervention on content

- Supporting third-party fact-checkers & journalists

- Promote media & literacy among users

- Reduce financial incentives for content producers

- Implement new features to flag content

- Delete posts & remove accounts

Verification

Evaluating veracity of a story before it becomes the news (pre-publication)

Fact-checking

Occurs post publication & compares explicit claim made publicly against trusted sources of facts

Types of Fact-Checkers

• Affiliated with news organisation

• Government-owned

• Independent organisation

• Volunteer group

• Individual

Fact-Checking Tools

1. Monitor what's trending

2. Verify images

3. Verify sites

4. Check the weather

What can we do?

1. Reflect on our own information behaviour.

2. Engage, rather than ignore.

3. Strive to understand others.

4. Use and support reliable and legitimate information sources.

5. Maximise available resources.

6. Equip ourselves