Researchers identify a major risk factor for pernicious effects of misinformation

Examining the technologies behind precision propaganda and political disinformation on the internet

Following the 2016 U.S. presidential election, “fake news” has dominated popular dialogue and is increasingly perceived as a unique threat to an informed democracy. Despite the common use of the term, it eludes common definition. When we agonize over the fake news phenomenon, though, we are not talking about these kinds of fabricated stories. Instead, what we are really focusing on is why we have been suddenly inundated by false information—purposefully deployed—that spreads so quickly and persuades so effectively. This is a different conception of fake news, and it presents a question about how information operates at scale in the internet era. And yet, too often we analyze the problem of fake news by focusing on individual instances, not systemic features of the information economy. This Essay therefore recommends that we must build a realistic theory—based on observations as well as interdisciplinary insights—to explain the governance of private companies who maintain our public sphere in the internet era.

A definitive guide to verifying digital content for emergency coverage

The following are remarks by Data & Society Founder and President danah boyd for her keynote at the 2017 Strata Data Conference in New York…

On search engines and social media, their distortions of society, and what we can do about them.

And then served customers frozen dinners on its opening night.

Facebook and Twitter won't fix this problem alone, says danah boyd. Today's information wars are also a reflection of us.

Going beyond search, the internet giant is presenting itself as an oracle by promoting a single result over all others as a definitive answer. Many of these “featured snippets” are contentious, improbable or laughably incorrect.

We can now be found on more than 200 news sites. It is the first global transparency standard that helps people know who and what is behind a story.

FAQ Understanding Dangerous Speech Who is affected by Dangerous Speech? How to respond to Dangerous Speech Learn More

As the social media giant grows in the developing world, its platform is being used to spread misinformation and incite violence.

The inability to tell what’s advertising and what isn’t is a problem for democracy. But it’s one that media companies are loath to tackle

Platforms like Facebook and Twitter offer up memes designed to feel real, if only for an instant — long enough for our minds to make a false connection.

Facebook and Google's push to personalize the news is the latest seismic shift in tech giants’ influence on the information landscape.

The Internet has democratized access to information but in so doing has opened the floodgates to misinformation, fake news, and rank propaganda masquerading as

BuzzFeed News analyzed the data of a real person on Twitter and the data of several Twitter accounts that seem automated to better understand how we may be able to spot a bot online.

The tactics of carefully targeted, data-driven manipulation—though innovative and destabilizing—are not entirely new. They predate the existence of Cambridge Analytica, and Facebook, and the contemporary notion of “fake news” itself. For decades, digital marketers—working in both commercial and political domains—have been perfecting models for using consumer data to identify and manipulate decision-making vulnerabilities.

Can silence be the best response to mis- and dis-information? First Draft has been asking ourselves this question since the French election, when we had to make difficult decisions about what information to publicly debunk for CrossCheck. We became worried that – in cases where rumours, misleading articles or fabricated visuals were confined to niche […]

The problems Facebook are facing today are the result of running into the future without considering unintended consequences, much like Microsoft and the Internet. There are clear solutions for the…