Research Guides: Fake News, Misleading Information, and Evaluating Sources: Problem

60 Minutes: Misinformation Spreads on Social Media (13:25)

Fake news and misinformation in the news

ProofNews.org: "Leading AI Companies Fail to Address Problems With Inaccurate Election Information" (March 26, 2024)
AI models continue to provide inaccurate and misleading responses to voter queries.
NYT: "When the Storm Online Is Worse Than the One Outside" (February 1, 2024)
"As misinformation permeates social media and online platforms, exasperated scientists and emergency officials say they are fighting an increasingly uphill battle to protect the weather report."
CNN: "A fake recording of a candidate saying he’d rigged the election went viral. Experts say it’s only the beginning" (February 1, 2024)
"Various forms of disinformation can shape public opinion, as evidenced by the widely held false belief that Trump won the 2020 election. But generative AI amplifies that threat by enabling anyone to cheaply create realistic-looking content that can rapidly spread online."
Columbia Journalism Review: "‘Pink Slime’: Partisan journalism and the future of local news" (Jan. 26, 2024)
"As we hurtle towards 2024 elections, interest in pink slime journalism and the continued growth of partisan local outlets with deep, often opaque, ties to dark money, advocacy groups and other special interests has only grown."
NBC News: "Disinformation poses an unprecedented threat in 2024 — and the U.S. is less ready than ever" (January 18, 2024)
As the presidential election approaches, experts warn that a convergence of events at home and abroad, on traditional and social media — and amid an environment of rising authoritarianism, deep distrust, and political and social unrest — makes the dangers from propaganda, falsehoods and conspiracy theories more dire than ever.
APA: "This election year, fighting misinformation is messier and more important than ever" (Jan. 1, 2024)
During the U.S. presidential election in 2016, “fake news” was the phrase on everyone’s lips. Two election cycles later, the threat of misinformation has only become more insidious.
USAToday: What is disinformation? Misinformation? What to know about how 'fake news' is spread. (June 7, 2023)
"The ability to share quickly and to a wide audience makes social media a particularly easy medium for misinformation to travel quickly on social media."
The Guardian: "I Thought I was immune to being fooled online. Then I saw the pope in a coat." (March 27, 2023)
"I now have sympathy for older people who are seemingly so easily manipulated by a shonky Photoshop edit or a comment thread that makes them go and attack a 5G tower. For years I’ve smirked and laughed at those who have been fed misinformation online – imagine believing a lie! – and now Coat Pope has done the same to me."
NiemanLab: Good news: Misinformation isn’t as powerful as feared! Bad news: Neither is information (Jan. 10, 2023)
"Maybe misinformation isn’t as potent as feared — but accurate information also isn’t as potent as desired. Those injections of information are more likely to be treating the symptom than the underlying disease."
MPRNews: Online disinformation expert Joan Donovan on the power of memes (Jan. 6, 2023)
An audio interview between Minnesota Public Radio host Kerri Miller and meme expert Joan Donovan.
Grid: Behind the lie of 87,000 armed agents: How an obscure factoid was bent into a popular GOP talking point (Aug. 22, 2022)
"Even as warnings of violence have multiplied and fact-checkers debunked their claims, GOP lawmakers and right-wing outlets have doubled down on their strategy, further amplifying and embellishing their original misleading claims."
The Conversation: Buying Into Conspiracy Theories Can Be Exciting--That's What Makes Them Dangerous (July 5, 2022)
"[An]yone who talks to conspiracy theorists knows that they’re never short on details, or at least 'alternative facts.' They have plenty of information, but they insist that it be interpreted in a particular way – the way that feels most exciting."
Washington Post: Beware Partisan 'Pink Slime' Sites that Pose as Local News (June 5, 2022)
"While fact-based, accountable local newspapers are struggling to survive — many of them facing budget cuts or closure — what’s known as “pink slime” sites are sneakily trying to fill the void. They traffic in falsehood and exaggeration, paid for by political groups, especially on the right."
Esquire: Tiffany Dover Was Never Dead (April 18, 2022)
"Zadrozny, who has been covering conspiracy theories and, in particular, the anti-vaccination movement, for nearly a decade, documents not just how the lie spreads, but what happens when the people who spread it are faced with the truth."
CNN: Why Ukraine War Misinformation is So Hard to Police (March 15, 2022)
Misinformation experts say there are key differences between the war in Ukraine and other misinformation events that make false claims about the conflict especially insidious and difficult to counter.
PolitiFact: "What Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Russia video can teach us all about talking to the misinformed" (March 21, 2022)
Arnold Schwarzenegger’s recent video to the people of Russia in the war in Ukraine was a master class in how to get people to reconsider their views. We can all learn from it.
NewsGuard: "WarTok: TikTok is feeding war disinformation to new users within minutes — even if they don’t search for Ukraine-related content" (March 2022)
NewsGuard’s findings add to the body of evidence that TikTok’s lack of effective content labeling and moderation, coupled with its skill at pushing users to content that keeps them on the app, have made the platform fertile ground for the spread of disinformation.
Technology Now: "How to Avoid Sharing Bad Information About Russia's Invasion of Ukraine" (Feb. 25, 2022)
Harmful propaganda and misinformation are often inadvertently amplified as people face the fire hose of breaking news and interact with viral posts about a terrible event. This guide is for those who want to avoid helping bad actors.
NBC: War in Ukraine Sparks New Wave of Misinformation (Feb. 25, 2022)
Russia's invasion of Ukraine has already fueled some nascent misinformation tactics, including the spread of realistic video game footage and the use of TikTok to create fake war zone livestreams.
Politico: We Found the One Group of Americans Who Are Most Likely to Spread Fake News (Jan. 14, 2022)
One subset of conservatives expressed the greatest tendency to promote false news stories. Here’s what it means for the fight against misinformation.

How to Combat Fake News: Advice from Top Journalists (3:09)

What Is the Problem?

Why should you care about whether your news is real or fake?

You deserve the truth. You are smart enough to make up your own mind - as long as you have the real facts in front of you. You have every right to be insulted when you are presented with fake news, because you are in essence being treated like an idiot.
Fake news destroys your credibility. If your arguments are built on bad information, it will be much more difficult for people to believe you now and in the future.
Fake news can hurt you, and a lot of other people. Purveyors of fake and misleading medical advice like Mercola.com and NaturalNews.com help perpetuate myths like HIV and AIDS aren't related, or that vaccines cause autism. These sites are heavily visited and their lies are dangerous.
Real news can benefit you. If you want to buy stock in a company, you want to read accurate articles about that company so you can invest wisely. If you are planning on voting in an election, you want to read as much good information on a candidate so you can vote for the person who best represents your ideas and beliefs. Fake news will not help you make money or make the world a better place, but real news can.