edelman trust barometer special flash poll

1

2018 Edelman

Trust Barometer

Special Flash Poll

Politically-Motivated Fake News

in the week of the #TechHearings

November 6, 2017

What We Did

2

Flash Poll

Nov. 3 – Nov. 6, 2017

Online survey of 1,000 U.S. general population respondents

Oversample of 113 tech employees who live in the San Francisco Bay Area

Social Listening

Oct. 29 – Nov. 4, 2017

Using the Edelman Intelligence Command Center, we analyzed online

conversation around “Fake News.” A total of 126,522 mentions were analyzed for

associated topics and sentiment.

We also analyzed 29,978 mentions using the #TechHearings hashtag.

For a detailed taxonomy, please refer to the Appendix.

Context

Oct. 31 – Nov. 1, 2017 Google, Twitter and Facebook send their general counsels to testify before the

House and Senate intelligence committees, and a Senate Judiciary subcommittee.

All three committees are investigating on Russian meddling in the 2016

presidential election, and whether it is linked to President Donald Trump's

campaign.

Bad Reporting, Name-Calling, Legitimate Threat—

No Agreement On What IS “Fake News”

Source: 2018 Edelman Trust Barometer Trust Fake News Flash Poll, Nov. 6, 2017.

Q1. Which of the following describes your beliefs about fake news? Total Sample.

3

10%

15%

16%

17%

39%

47%

It is not a real problem. It is just hype.

A weapon that the Russians are using to disrupt U.S. and other democracies

A political dirty trick that Republicans are using to try and win elections

A political dirty trick that Democrats are using to try and win elections

Insult being over-used to discredit news stories people do not like

Sloppy or biased reporting by news organizations/individuals

Percent who believe each describes fake news

Bad Reporting, Name-Calling, Political Dirty Trick—

Beliefs Regarding “Fake News” Differ By Party


Q1. Which of the following describes your beliefs about fake news? General Population among Independents (N=247) vs Republicans (N=288) vs Democrats

(N=372).

4

10%

19%

25%

9%

47%

38%

8%

12%

9%

33%

32%

57%

14%

14%

12%

12%

36%

53%

It is not a real problem. It is just hype.

A weapon that the Russians are using to disrupt U.S. and other democracies

A political dirty trick that Republicans are using to try and win elections

A political dirty trick that Democrats are using to try and win elections

Insult being over-used to discredit news stories people do not like

Sloppy or biased reporting by news organizations/individuals

Independents

Republicans

Democrats

Percent who believe each describes fake news

Fake News is Decreasing Trust in

Traditional News Organizations

5

36% 26% 33% 3%3%

Decreased a lot Decreased a little No effect Increased

Percent who say that fake news has affected their trust in

traditional news organizations

62%

Trust in traditional media has decreased

Source: Source: 2018 Edelman Trust Barometer Trust Fake News Flash Poll, Nov. 6, 2017.

Q2. How has fake news effected your trust in traditional news organizations? General Population.

Fake News has a Bigger Impact on Trust in Traditional

News Organizations Among Republicans

6

22% 28% 42% 4% 4%


Percent who say that fake news has affected their trust in

traditional news organizations

Source: Source: 2018 Edelman Trust Barometer Trust Fake News Flash Poll, Nov. 6, 2017.

Q2. How has fake news effected your trust in traditional news organizations? General Population among Independents (N=247) vs Republicans (N=288) vs

Democrats (N=372).

.

49% 25% 21% 2%2%


39% 22% 34% 2%2%


Among Democrats: 50% Trust in traditional media has decreased

Among Republicans: 75% Trust in traditional media has decreased

Among Independents: 62% Trust in traditional media has decreased

Fake News is Changing

News Consumption Behaviors

7

11%

14%

24%

26%

35%

51%

It has led me to avoid the news media altogether

None at all

Has made me doubt the truth of almost every news story I see or hear

I have lost trust in the news media in general

I am fact-checking and verifying sources more than ever before

Has made me more careful about where I get news and information

Percent who say fake news has impacted them in each way


Q3. What impact has fake news had on your trust in the information you see in the news media? General Population.

Majority see Social Platforms

as Media Companies

8

2%

8%

11%

39%

47%

49%

78%

27%

37%

53%

39%

33%

29%

12%

65%

30%

31%

13%

10%

11%

3%

0% 25% 50% 75% 100%

Apple

Amazon

Google

Facebook

YouTube

Twitter

CNN

Media Both Technology Neither Don’t Know

Percent who consider each company to be media, tech or both


Q4. For each of the companies listed below, please indicate whether you consider it to be a technology company, a media company, both or neither. General

Population.

Majority of Silicon Valley Tech Employees see

Social Platforms as Media Companies

9

4%

8%

8%

27%

46%

46%

83%

12%

27%

43%

46%

39%

33%

6%

81%

46%

47%

23%

11%

19%

5%

0% 25% 50% 75% 100%

Apple

Amazon

Google

Facebook

YouTube

Twitter

CNN

Media Both Technology Neither Don’t Know

Percent who consider each company to be media, tech or both


Q4. For each of the companies listed below, please indicate whether you consider it to be a technology company, a media company, both or neither.

Silicon Valley oversample = employed in tech industry and live in San Francisco Bay area (n=113)

More Than Half Blame Social Platforms

for Spreading Fake News

10

29%

44%

44%

45%

45%

53%

54%

54%

54%

74%

78%

Google

Fox News

CNN

The Democratic party

The Republican party

Mainstream media

The Russian government

Facebook

Twitter

Internet bots

Internet trolls

Percent who blame each of the following for spreading fake news


Q5. How much do you blame each of the following for the spreading of fake news? (Top 4 Box, Blame) General Population.

Silicon Valley Less Likely to Blame the Mainstream

Media and Search but Not Social Platforms

11

19%

47%

23%

27%

42%

31%

57%

62%

58%

73%

76%

29%

44%

44%

45%

45%

53%

54%

54%

54%

74%

78%

Google

Fox News

CNN

The Democratic party

The Republican party

Mainstream media

The Russian government

Facebook

Twitter

Internet bots

Internet trolls

General Population

Silicon Valley

Percent who blame each of the following for spreading fake news,

General Population vs. Silicon Valley


Q5. How much do you blame each of the following for the spreading of fake news? (Top 4 Box, Blame) General Population vs Silicon Valley oversample.


Significant Differences

Most Want More Regulation

to Control Fake News

12

3%

8%

15%

30%

32%

37%

40%

45%

47%

47%

48%

We do not have a fake news problem in this country

None of the above

Keep the government out of this/let technology/media companies fix problem

Require that real persons screen content rather than algorithms

Shut down companies that spread fake news until they fix the problem

Prohibit foreign governments/organizations from paid political ads or content

Educate people so that they get smarter about deciding what is true

Require companies to screen for fake news

Require companies to label the source of the content and ads they host

Require companies to disclose who paid for political ads/content

Levy large fines against companies that host, publish or repeat fake news

Percent who support each of the following to fix the fake news problem

83% net

Favor some form of government

regulation or new laws to address the

Fake News problem


Q6. Which of the following would you support as a means to fixing the fake news problem? General Population.

Facebook, Twitter and Google Top the List

of Companies That Should Be More Regulated

13

15%

16%

16%

17%

20%

30%

42%

49%

Amazon

Apple

Microsoft

Airbnb

UBER

Google

Twitter

Facebook

Percent who believe each of the following companies should be subject to

increased government regulation


Q7. Which of the following companies do you believe should be subjected to increased government regulation? General Population.

Even Silicon Valley Agrees on Need for

More Government Oversight of Tech Companies

14


Q6. Which of the following would you support as a means to fixing the fake news problem? Net of items a-g and percent who selected item i. General Population vs Silicon Valley oversample

Q7. Which of the following companies do you believe should be subjected to increased government regulation? Companies listed: Facebook, Google, Twitter, UBER, Airbnb, Amazon,

Microsoft, Apple. Percent who selected ‘None of the above’. General Population vs Silicon Valley oversample.


General Population Silicon Valley

Favor some form of government regulation or new

laws to address the Fake News problem

83% 93%

Do NOT believe any of the tech companies listed*

require additional government oversight

38% 24%

Support keeping government out of this and letting

technology and media companies figure our for

themselves the best way to handle this problem

15% 9%

Companies Associated with Fake News:

Facebook Dominates, Twitter and Google Referenced Heavily


Data was aggregated through Edelman Intelligence Command Center from 10/29-11/04/17 for a total of 126,552 mentions.

Shown total per company and overall will be greater as mentions that reference more than one company will be counted more. Arrows next to company names in

the Share of Voice indicate percentage of increased or decreased conversation around that company in comparison to the previous week. 15

Mentions of social media companies in relationship to

fake news (share of voice)

Conversations Related to Fake News and Social Platforms Focused on Russia, Trump and the Senate



Shown total per company and overall will be greater as mentions that reference more than one company will be counted more. Inner circle references the

company, with the outer circle color-coded by which theme references back to the company.

16

Automatically-generated conversation themes around each company and the topic of fake news

Strong Negative Sentiment Around Social Media Companies



Shown total per company and overall will be greater as mentions that reference more than one company will be counted more. Arrows next to company names

indicate percentage of increased or decreased conversation around that company in comparison to the previous week.

Automated sentiment on the top social media companies in relationship to fake news

Twitter, Facebook and Google Mentioned Fairly Equally During #TechHearingsconversation


Data was aggregated through Edelman Intelligence Command Center from 10/31 to 11/02/17 for a total of 29,978 mentions.

Not all mentions referenced a company.

18

Share of voice among companies in mentions of #techhearings

General Fake News Conversation Dominated

by Trump, Industry Discussion and Russia


Quid analysis contains data for the 10/03/17 to 11/04/17 sourced through Lexis Nexis. Algorithms within the Quid system determine significant meaning between

stories which form “clusters” which are then analyzed and grouped based on similarities and themes determined by the analyst.

News article network with 3021 stories. Colored by clusters. Sized by degree. Labeled by clusters. 19

Topic clusters in

news coverage

around “Fake News”

in the month of

October

Clusters

● Donald Trump 36%

● Industry Discussion 27%

● Russia 12%

● Philippines 6.8%

● Las Vegas Shooting 4.7%

● Malaysia 3.8%

● Word of the Year 2.3%

● IoT Threats 1.8%

● Nigeria 1.7%

● Catalonia 0.70%

● Germany 0.60%

● Iran 0.50%

● UK 0.36%

Appendix

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Command Center Query

Fake News Taxonomy

("social media" OR "social network" OR "social networks" OR "digital media" OR "digital news" OR "digital landscape" OR "live video" OR

"livestreaming" OR "live streaming" OR "livestream" OR "live stream" OR "new media" OR google OR twitter OR facebook OR reddit OR 4chan

OR youtube) NEAR/10 ("fake news" OR fakenews OR "fake accounts" OR "election interference" OR "election influence" OR "campaign

interference" OR "campaign influence" OR "campaign collusion" OR "foreign collusion" OR "foreign interference" OR "foreign influence" OR

"automated accounts" OR "automated account" OR "influence campaign" OR "troll farm" OR trollfarm OR misinformation OR disinformation OR

"false information" OR "falsified information" OR "bot nets" OR botnets OR "malicious networks" OR "malicious network" OR "voter suppression"

OR "election interference" OR "election influence"~2 OR "transparency ads"~2 OR "transparency advertising"~2 OR "transparency advertiser"~2

OR "transparency advertisers"~2 OR "transparency advertisement"~2 OR "transparency advertisements"~2 OR "presidential campaign" OR

"presidential campaigns" OR "congressional campaign" OR "congressional campaigns" OR "midterm elections" OR "midterm election" OR "mid-

term election" OR "mid-term election" OR "polarized" OR "polarizing" OR "confirmation bias" OR "echo chamber" OR "media bubble" OR "liberal

bubble" OR "costal bubble" OR "conservative bubble" OR "midwest bubble" OR "blue state bubble" OR "red state bubble" OR "political climate"

OR "fact checking" OR "fact check" OR "fact checker" OR "fact checkers" OR "democracy" OR "democratic process" OR "democratic freedom"

OR "russian influence" OR "russian collusion" OR "russian interference" OR "suspending accounts" OR "finding accounts" OR "bad actors" OR

"bad actor" OR "alt-right" OR "altright" OR "alt right")

Appendix

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Quid Taxonomy

"fake news" OR fakenews OR "fake accounts" OR "automated accounts" OR "automated account" OR

"influence campaign" OR "troll farm" OR "bot nets" OR "botnets" OR "malicious networks" OR "malicious

network"

edelman trust barometer special flash poll

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