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posted by cmn32480 on Thursday August 10 2017, @01:57AM   Printer-friendly
from the automating-the-lies dept.

Fake news and the way it spreads on social media is emerging as one of the great threats to modern society. In recent times, fake news has been used to manipulate stock markets, make people choose dangerous health-care options, and manipulate elections, including last year's presidential election in the U.S.

Clearly, there is an urgent need for a way to limit the diffusion of fake news. And that raises an important question: how does fake news spread in the first place?

Today we get an answer of sorts thanks to the work of Chengcheng Shao and pals at Indiana University in Bloomington. For the first time, these guys have systematically studied how fake news spreads on Twitter and provide a unique window into this murky world. Their work suggests clear strategies for controlling this epidemic.

Source:
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/608561/first-evidence-that-social-bots-play-a-major-role-in-spreading-fake-news/

Journal Reference:
arxiv.org/abs/1707.07592: The Spread of Fake News by Social Bots


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  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 10 2017, @04:14AM (4 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 10 2017, @04:14AM (#551445)

    Or, just maybe, the Dems don't need fake news the way Republicans do, because they actually have policy, like health care for all and jobs for everyone, as opposed to the Republican failed proposal of cutting health insurance so we can give tax cuts to the wealthy. Or, what you said is actually correct, because, you know, reasons. Russian Reasons!

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  • (Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 10 2017, @07:24AM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 10 2017, @07:24AM (#551505)

    Yeah, they support health care for all, which is why they didn't do any such thing when they had a super majority under Obama. The reality is that there are many corporate democrats, and they obstruct policies that would otherwise be implemented.

    • (Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Thursday August 10 2017, @05:38PM (2 children)

      by DeathMonkey (1380) on Thursday August 10 2017, @05:38PM (#551755) Journal

      Republicans fillibustered single-payer out of the ACA. Put the blame where it belongs.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 10 2017, @08:53PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 10 2017, @08:53PM (#551862)

        Remember the crowd you're talking to, it took months of trunk fuckups for them to even consider he isn't a god emperor...

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 11 2017, @12:30AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 11 2017, @12:30AM (#551972)

        Put the blame where it belongs.

        That would be the democrats' refusal to change the rules to eliminate the filibuster problem. And this is because their politburo [urbandictionary.com] didn't want single payer either. They didn't even want to discuss it once the campaigning was over. So, any 'fake news' coming out of that came straight from the democrats. Same with this whole Russia thing, they don't want people to actually read the DNC emails documenting real election fraud. I do have to give them credit for successfully projecting that onto the republicans though. The stupid/ignorant/antipathic voter is a fatal flaw of democracy.