Three researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have found that fake news proliferates much faster than real news. Many journalists have already expected as much, but the common source of blame has been robots, many of which are believed to have been launched at the direction of the Russian government. However, the MIT researchers argue that real people are the primary drivers of fake news.
This claim is backed up by cold, hard data. Researchers found that fake news reached 1500 people on Twitter six times faster than real news. Not only that, but fake news routinely reached 10,000 people while real news struggled to reach such heights. All types of fake news propagated much faster than its real news counterpart. However, political news, in particular, was the most likely to rapidly disseminate.
The researchers collected 12 years’ worth of data from Twitter, producing a data set of roughly 126,000 news items that were shared by some 3 million people 4.5 million times.
The most interesting takeaway from the study isn’t just that fake news spread faster, but the spread itself seems to be directly related to the fakeness of the headlines. Researchers considered whether people promoting fake news simply had more followers. This would explain the speed of the spread. However, the research found that the Twitter accounts promoting fake news actually had fewer followers.
So why do fake news tweets spread faster? Researchers concluded that the novelty of the tweets was a major factor. Quite simply, the fake news tweets contained “new” information that Twitter followers had simply never seen before.
Consider Floyd Mayweather. Most people already know that he’s one of the greatest boxers in history. They are familiar with the various lurid allegations as well, say…that Mayweather is illiterate or that he appeases women. How about the allegation that Mayweather wears a hijab? When this fake news story hit the Internet it took off like wildfire. Researchers believe that the novelty of the story played a major role.
Further, fake news headlines tend to produce different, and often stronger, emotional reactions. Many fake news stories play into our strongest emotions, such as distrust, fear, hate, and all the rest. This helps explain why fake news stories seem to gain traction so quickly. Given how popular tabloid magazines have remained over the years, the results of the MIT study aren’t particularly shocking, but they do add some color to the situation.
The 2016 presidential race provides a good thinking ground. The tensions were high, and both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump had enough real skeletons in their closet to draw scorn. Yet fake news stories were the most likely to spread the furthest.
For example, Pope Francis endorsing Donald Trump. This never happened, but the story spread quickly. Or how about Donald Trump sending his own plane to transport 200 marines? A feel-good story but one that never happened.
Fake news stories weren’t focused solely on Trump either. The biggest fake news story for the Clinton campaign was arguably “pizzagate.” Somehow, gatherings to enjoy slices of pizza evolved into a lewd story that several higher-ups in the Clinton camp were involved in human sex trafficking and child sexual abuse. A DC pizzeria, the Comet, was allegedly the primary hub in the whole scandal.
These stories shock our senses as they are unlike anything we’ve heard before. They also challenge the public images of the people involved. Their shocking nature may explain why fake news stories spread so quickly.
Currently, social media networks, Google, and other companies are looking to clamp down on fake news. Security and elections experts have also promised to be vigilant in the upcoming 2018 congressional elections. Many are now scrutinizing Russia, looking for signs of interference.
