Fake news & filter bubbles
Joseph Reagle
Our question(s)
- If we get better out filtering out fake news, do we end up in a filter bubble?
- What is fake news?
- What is a filter bubble?
- Why do they happen?
- Is there anything we can do?
Information Disorder
dis/mis/mal-information?
Definitions of dis/mis/mal-information??
- dis-information
- intentionally false and designed to gain money, influence, and power or cause harm
- mis-information
- false but not known to be so
- mal-information
- true or false, designed to cause harm
All can result in agnotology
What is agnotology?
the strategic and purposeful production of ignorance (boyd 2019) (lowercase name)
dis/mis/mal-information examples?
- dis-information (false & intentional)
- Roger Stone on stolen election
- mis-information (false & unintentional)
- older relative on stolen election
- mal-information (regardless of intent, harmful)
- DNC/Hillary emails
Types of mis- and dis-information
Satire or parody
No intention to cause harm but has potential to fool. (Wardle 2022)
e.g., The Onion; Le Gorafi on Macron washing hands
False connection
When headlines, visuals or captions don’t support the content. (Wardle 2022)
e.g., clickbait
Misleading content
Misleading use of information to frame an issue or individual. (Wardle 2022)
e.g., NYT on Presidential judicial appointments (15 vs 24)
False context
When genuine content is shared with false contextual information. (Wardle 2022)
e.g., Muslim woman looking away; child in cage
Imposter content
When genuine sources are impersonated. (Wardle 2022)
e.g., impersonations of BBC, NOW THIS, Le Soir, Miami Herald
Manipulated content
When genuine information or imagery is manipulated to deceive. (Wardle 2022)
e.g., ICE police at voting location, Gozalez ripping Constitution, Pelosi slowed down
Fabricated content
New content that is 100% false, made to deceive and do harm. (Wardle 2022)
e.g., Pope Francis endorses Trump, Nathan for You’s pig saving goat (Wardle 2022)
Spotting AI images
noise; non-converging lines;
Spotting AI video
short clips; funky text & teeth; continuity of character, people, & environment; incoherent logic; non-converging lines
“Can You Tell What’s Real?”
Recent examples??
Can you find an example in the news from the past year?
- satire or parody
- false connection
- misleading content
- false context
- imposter content
- manipulated content
- fabricated content
Aside: “reputable” vs “fake” news?
e.g., bias: “real” = low; “fake” = high
| Attribute | “real” | “fake” |
|---|---|---|
| bias | low | high |
| basis | reality | ideology |
| motivation | inform | persuade |
| accountability | high | low |
| news/opinion firewall | discrete | blurred |
| size | larger | smaller |
| sources | verifiable | not |
| ? | ? | ? |
“Crap detection” redux
Where does it come from?
- foreign government agents
- hyper-partisans
- and Macedonia scammers (for money, not ideology)
FB’s response?
- easier flagging
- reporting to fact checkers
- improving algorithm
- disrupting financial incentives (Mosseri 2016)
Who checks the fact-checkers?
Facebook Took Down A Fact-Check Of An Anti-Abortion Video After Republicans Complained
The fact-check was conducted by three doctors who determined an anti-abortion activist’s claim that “abortion is never medically necessary” was false. (Koerner 2019)
Mistakes were made (Hunter’s laptop)
Our communication around our actions on the @nypost article was not great. And blocking URL sharing via tweet or DM with zero context as to why we’re blocking: unacceptable. https://t.co/v55vDVVlgt
— jack (@jack) October 14, 2020
Backfire
boyd’s argument?
The “culture of doubt and critique, experience over expertise, and personal responsibility” is furthering tribalism.
Media literacy asks people to raise questions and be wary of information that they’re receiving.
People are. Unfortunately, that’s exactly why we’re talking past one another. (boyd 2017)
Do you agree??
“Why Do People Fall For Fake News?”
Summary of the research (PennycookRand 2019)
- correcting misleading claims in news articles can backfire
- doesn’t backfire most of the time and leads to more accurate beliefs
- analytics are less superstitious, less conspiratorial, and less receptive to pseudo-profundities
- reflective reasoning (e.g., bullshit detection) is independent of partisanship
- analytic partisans are better at rationalizing their position (on climate change)
Filter bubbles
If we get better out filtering out fake news, do we end up in a filter bubble?
Eli Pariser
on Zuckerberg’s squirrel
Pariser’s search
Our search??
My complaint about Eli Pariser’s type of thinking is it’s totally unempirical. –Jacob Weisberg
Let’s each search Google News for “Jimmy Kimmel”
What’s your neighbors’ screens show?
More recently, user choice is more important than Google’s algorithmic search inferences (Robertson et al. 2023).
How Can We Avoid Filter Bubbles?
- Manage cookies and ads via blockers or Incognito mode.
- Read news sites and blogs which aim to provide a wide range of perspectives.
- Switch our focus from entertainment to education. (FS 2017)
Nye vs Ham
Do you think their debate changed anyone’s mind?
Finding ideological diversity
- How do you seek for difference?
- When did you last change your mind?
- What’s something you’ve not made up your mind about?
Possible venues:
Questions?
Conclusion
Wrap up
- Write a “3-minute paper” (bullets are fine) summarizing what you learned.
Review
Review questions
What topics did we address? What questions would you suggest?
3-minute quiz
- What’s the difference between dis-/mis-/mal-information?
- What are three types of mis/dis-information?
- What are three attributes of “fake” news sources, relative to “real”?
- What was boyd’s primary concern about media literacy?