The presence of social bots with phony social media accounts has created an environment which calls in question the authenticity of news stories because bots artificially boost the popularity of these stories. Social bots automatically collect and search for information to reflect a user's history of preference on a social media site (Chandler). Social media account holders may be victims of social bots which pose as friends to gain a user's confidence but in actuality deliver deceptive information. The use of bots during election seasons to spread rumors and deliver false message is designed to undermine confidence in one candidate over another. Deceptive political messages on social media were documented particularly during the U.S. Presidential race of 2016.
Burkhardt states: "Political Bots are social bots with
political motivations. They have been used to
artificially inflate support for a candidate by
sending out information that promotes a particular
candidate or disparages the candidate of the opposite
party. They have been used to spread conspiracy
theories, propaganda, and false information"
(Burkhardt 16).
Questionable authenticity of stories is related to the algorithms that select and rank content in social media platforms. Social media strives to provide a personalized user experience through use of algorithms which curate news content based on the user’s history of likes, posting of links, and clicks (Burns 66). Facebook’s News Feed and Twitter’s Moments are curated and so are Snapchat and Instagram platforms. The use of algorithms to personalize the user’s experience can lead to a “filter bubble” or “echo chamber.” While certainly effective for a personalized experience, the narrowing of exposure to only those news feeds which mirror the user’s political and ideological beliefs provides a false sense of political reality. The user’s political reality is reinforced further because exposure to news feeds that do not match the user’s profile are likely to be filtered out. Another negative consequence for the public is the spread of misinformation when users do not question assertions in news stories before reposting and sharing. As a result, false stories and hoaxes lead users to be duped by untruths (Burns 70).
An important defense against being duped by untruths is to verify the authenticity of news stories through Fact Checkers.
Burkhardt JM (2017) Combatting fake news in the digital age. Library Technology Reports (American Library Association) 53 (8).
Burns, Kelli S. Social Media. Abc-Clio, 2017.
Chandler, D., & Munday, R.social bot. In A Dictionary of Social Media.: Oxford University Press. Retrieved 13 Mar. 2018, from http://www.oxfordreference.com.
A Project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center, the website serves as a "nonpartisan, nonprofit 'consumer advocate' for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics."
Frequent "Top 10 Best Websites" recipient, Snopes.com is the oldest and largest fact-checking site on the internet. It is often used to investigate rumors and Urban Legends.
PolitiFact is a fact-checking website of the Tampa Bay Times, which is owned by a not-for-profit organization. Additional aspects of fact-checking on the website include "PunditFact", "Truth-O-Meter", "Flip-O-Meter", and Promise meters.
A web-based media bias resource which includes a database of 2100+ media sources. Searches on the bias of sources can be entered by name or url.
[Note: Media Bias/Fact Check website provides a methodology and standards applied during its fact checking. https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/methodology/ ]
As Hoaxes spread through email, social media, blogs, online forums, and fake-news websites, Hoax Salyer.net reports on false claims and scams and educates users in ways to avoid being deceived. This site was developed in 2003 is maintained by Australian, Brett Christensen.