how news websites spread (and debunk) online rumors, unverified claims and misinformation

Lies, Damn Lies and

Viral Content@CraigSilverman

Emergent.info

–Carl Drott

“She volunteered to defend Kobani against the

Islamic State and risk her life. It’s an affront to

her that some people think that’s not enough, but

that more fantastic details have to be invented,

and it also devalues the very many completely

true and even more fantastic stories coming out

of Kobani. Unfortunately, there’s not an iconic

picture for every fantastic story, and vice versa.”

Rumors emerge

in situations of

uncertainty, fear,

or lack of

information.

Lake Monster Attack designed by Luis Prado from the Noun Project

“[W]e are fundamentally social beings and

we possess an irrepressible instinct to

make sense of the world. Put these ideas

together and we get shared sensemaking:

We make sense of life together. Rumor is

perhaps the quintessential shared

sensemaking activity.”

— Nicholas DiFonzo, author of “The Watercooler Effect: A

Psychologist Explores the Extraordinary Power of

Rumors.”

RICHARD QUEST, CNN: . . . So, many

questions, none of which, frankly, we’re

going to be able to answer for you tonight.

But many questions are raised by this new

development. For instance, not least, how can a

plane go like this and no one notices it’s off flight

plan?

The former director general of IATA says he

finds it incredible that fighter jets were not

scrambled as soon as the aircraft went off

course. I asked Giovanni Bisignani for his gut

feeling about what happened to the plane.

The Truth About Rumor

• Rumors are inevitable, spread rapidly in a connected

world.

• They are prevalent in breaking news and other fluid,

confusing or anxiety-inducing situations.

• Repetition has an effect on belief.

• People are more likely to believe a rumor if it aligns

with their existing beliefs/knowledge.

• It matters how journalists treat rumors and claims

because we can give them credibility and oxygen.

What We Found

+1,600 news articles about more

than 100 online rumors that

circulated in the online press

between August and December of

2014.

1. Point, then Retreat

Mindless

PropagationSilent

Restraint

2. Following On

3.Fake/False Stuff Spreads

4. Declarative/Innuendo Headlines

5. Headline/Body

Dissonance

• 1,660 articles

• 213 contained headline/body text dissonance

• Just under 13 percent of all articles

True/Observing

True/Observing

True/Observing

More than 70 percent of the rumors we tracked saw at least one media report use the true/observing combination.

True/False

• “WATCH: Bird Launches Airstrike on Putin’s

Shoulder (UPDATED)” (Time magazine)

• “Woman Gets Third Boob to Appear Unattractive to

Men [Updated]” (New York magazine)

• “Weather Reporter Caught Writing His Name In The

Snow Was NOT Ready To Go On Camera

(UPDATED)” (The Huffington Post)

Hedging Words

“Islamist websites claim Israeli-Canadian woman kidnapped by IS: report— The Globe And Mail

Thank goodness for

pumpkin spice condoms

“Durex will neither confirm or deny the pumpkin spice condom.”— Quartz

Debunking Efforts

Tips For NewsroomsHandling rumors/claims:

• Understand your impact.

• Set a standard for pointing/propagating.

• Evaluate before your propagate.

• Hedge consistently.

Debunking:

• Debunk the idea, not the person.

• Tell a story.

• Choose the right sources.

• Be positive.

Thank you! Questions?

6.Updates/Follow Ups

Claim: ISIS captured a U.S. airdrop of

weapons intended for Kurdish fighters

Claim: Hewlett-Packard will split

itself into two separate companies

We Need Better BS

Detectors/Debunkers

–Brendan Nyhan, New York Times

“The problem, however, is that the spread of

rumors, misinformation and unverified claims

can overwhelm any effort to set the record

straight”

Key Players

Context: Networks

Source: Statistica, http://www.statista.com/statistics/272014/global-social-networks-ranked-by-number-of-users/

Context: Abundance

• 100 hours of video uploaded to YouTube ever minute.

• More than 500 million tweets sent per day.

• More than 55 million Instagram photos uploaded per day.

Context: Smartphones

1. Official Sources of Propaganda

2. Hoaxsters

Claim: The Batmobile was stolen

4. Unintentional Propagators

Why Debunking is

Difficult

–Brendan Nyhan

“….we found that parents with mixed or negative

feelings toward vaccines actually became less

likely to say they would vaccinate a future child

after receiving information debunking the myth

that vaccines cause autism.”

– Cordelia Fine, the author of A Mind of Its Own: How Your Brain Distorts and

Deceives, in The New York Times.

“[W]e humans quickly develop an irrational

loyalty to our beliefs, and work hard to find

evidence that supports those opinions and to

discredit, discount or avoid information that does

not.”