Social Media and Fake News in the 2016 Election

Allcott, Hunt; Gentzkow, Matthew

doi:10.3386/w23089

Cited by 1,488 publications

(1,959 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…This worry has become even more widespread after Brexit and the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election. Of all the fierce debates surrounding these two high‐profile events, the furor around the presence of “fake news” on social media has been among the most heated points of discussion (Allcott & Gentzkow, ; Ott, ; Solon, ). Driven in part by the apparently substantial impact of social media on the outcomes of these two events, attempts have been made to hold social media platforms to account for presiding over misinformation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How Social Media Construct “Truth” Around Crisis Events: Weibo's Rumor Management Strategies After the 2015 Tianjin Blasts

Zeng¹,

Chan

2017

Policy & Internet

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China's control of information online is often imposed by social media platforms in the name of “rumor management.” This article examines the content moderation strategies of Sina Weibo, China's largest microblogging platform, in regulating discussion of rumors following the 2015 Tianjin blasts. More than 100,000 Weibo posts were collected and categorized into three data sets: rumor discussion posts from the public, rumor‐debunking posts from Weibo's official rumor rebuttal accounts, and posts removed from the system. Two content‐moderation rumor strategies, namely rumor rebuttal and content removal, were identified. Clustering analysis and time series analysis was applied to test how these two strategies were used to filter posts of different topics and how they were associated with public discussion of rumor‐related topics. Our findings suggest that the platform's response to rumor varied depending on the political sensitivity of the topic. Time‐series analysis indicated that the implementation of both strategies was usually associated with a subsequent increase in general discussion about the rumor, suggesting that these strategies do not create a consistent chilling effect on public speech.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How Social Media Construct “Truth” Around Crisis Events: Weibo's Rumor Management Strategies After the 2015 Tianjin Blasts

Zeng¹,

Chan

2017

Policy & Internet

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“…Mass communication research has long known that there are two important sources of biased news consumption: media outlets may lean toward an ideological position (slant, see Gentzkow & Shapiro, ) and at the same time, recipients select articles based on their own attitudes (selective exposure, see Garrett, ). These two well‐studied forces are by all accounts (Allcott & Gentzkow, ) as important as ever—but they no longer suffice in explaining the audiences’ news selection, the information they receive, and the embedded ideological leaning.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Power of Default on Reddit: A General Model to Measure the Influence of Information Intermediaries

Jürgens¹,

Stark²

2017

Policy & Internet

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Information intermediaries like search engines and social networks can represent a source of bias for recipients. Their algorithms, especially concerning filtering, sorting, and personalization, are assumed to skew the representation of news topics and thus create media effects in their own right. Largely as a result of methodological challenges, existing studies have often tested isolated hypotheses without covering the full effects chain from content production to reception by the user. However, the preselection of content performed by intermediaries is only relevant if users choose to rely on it, an assumption that so far lacks broad empirical evidence. Based on a broad review of existing study designs, this article develops a general intermediary effects model. From this model, researchers can derive empirical study designs that capture and differentiate the individual effects of filtering, sorting, and personalization. We then apply the model in an assessment of the news aggregator Reddit's change in capacity to influence its users’ information selection. Using counterfactual time series decomposition, we show that changing the sections of the website included in the start page by default can lead to large changes in attention paid to content. These findings substantiate existing assumptions about the power of information intermediaries to shape the information environments of their users.

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“…Characteristics of information and communication technologies in general and social action in particular include: [1] the foundation for community building, [2] the interrelation of the real and the virtual space, [3] digital divide and social inequalities, and [4] the influence of globalisation on local communities and their contribution to the global public sphere (Neumayer & Raffl, 2008: 2).…”

Section: Social Media In Social Organizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Media in Social Organization

Aykurt

Şeşen

2017

ESJ

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As global integration process creates changes and new problem areas around individuals, people try to apply new ways for resilience. One of the methods used in this frame is social organization. Also, one of the most important tools of social organization in today's world is social media which emerge as a result of new communication technologies. The aim of this study is to reveal the role of social media in organizing society. In this context, social organization and social media were primarily defined. Some examples of the use of social media in social action and social organization have been emphasized. Data for the study was collected by using an online questionnaire. Research population of the study was Facebook users in Turkey. The sample of the study uses the convenience incidental sampling. The opinions about the role of social media in the social organization of Facebook users were examined. According to the results of the study, 72% of the participants agree that social media is a powerful tool in organizing social actions. 40% of the respondents think that social media contributes in strengthening democracy. It might be said that participants believe in the power of social media, but they never thought that this power will remain permanent.

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Social Media and Fake News in the 2016 Election

Cited by 1,488 publications

References 31 publications

How Social Media Construct “Truth” Around Crisis Events: Weibo's Rumor Management Strategies After the 2015 Tianjin Blasts

How Social Media Construct “Truth” Around Crisis Events: Weibo's Rumor Management Strategies After the 2015 Tianjin Blasts

The Power of Default on Reddit: A General Model to Measure the Influence of Information Intermediaries

Social Media in Social Organization

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