Title: Misinformation and biases infect social media, both intentionally and accidentally
Headings: Misinformation and biases infect social media, both intentionally and accidentally
Misinformation and biases infect social media, both intentionally and accidentally
Bias in the brain
Bias in society
Bias in the machine
Understanding complex vulnerabilities
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Content: To counter this bias, and help people pay more attention to the source of a claim before sharing it, we developed Fakey, a mobile news literacy game (free on Android and iOS) simulating a typical social media news feed, with a mix of news articles from mainstream and low-credibility sources. Players get more points for sharing news from reliable sources and flagging suspicious content for fact-checking. In the process, they learn to recognize signals of source credibility, such as hyperpartisan claims and emotionally charged headlines. Screenshots of the Fakey game. Mihai Avram and Filippo Menczer
Bias in society
Another source of bias comes from society. When people connect directly with their peers, the social biases that guide their selection of friends come to influence the information they see. In fact, in our research we have found that it is possible to determine the political leanings of a Twitter user by simply looking at the partisan preferences of their friends. Our analysis of the structure of these partisan communication networks found social networks are particularly efficient at disseminating information – accurate or not – when they are closely tied together and disconnected from other parts of society. The tendency to evaluate information more favorably if it comes from within their own social circles creates “ echo chambers ” that are ripe for manipulation, either consciously or unintentionally. This helps explain why so many online conversations devolve into “us versus them” confrontations.