All Sections

View and post jobs in journalism
  • Platforms
  • Publishers
  • Comment/Analysis
  • Editor's Pick
  • Interviews
  • News
    • Broadcast Journalism
    • Digital Journalism
    • Magazines
    • Media Law
    • National Newspapers
    • People
      • Appointments
      • Obituaries
    • Regional Newspapers
  • Press Gazette Podcast
  • British Journalism Awards
  • Press Gazette Email Newsletter

In the news

  • Platforms
  • Publishers
  • Interviews
  • Marketing
  • About us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
  • Advertise
  • RSS
Close
[mashshare]
Skip to content
  • About us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
  • Advertise
  • RSS
All sections

Search

Search pressgazette.co.uk

Close

Press Gazette

Subscribe to our email newsletter Journalism email newsletter
  • News
  • Comment
  • Data
  • Platforms
  • Publishers
  • Marketing
  • Awards
  • Jobs

Menu

  • Platforms
  • Publishers
  • Interviews
  • National Newspapers
  • Regional Newspapers
  • Digital Journalism
  • Broadcast Journalism
  • Media Law
  • Magazines
  • Wires and Agencies
  • Obituaries
  • News
  • Comment/Analysis
  • Jobs
  • British Journalism Awards

In the news

  • Platforms
  • Publishers
  • Interviews
  • Marketing
Close
Telegraph launches Women Mean Business campaign with open letter signed by 200 women
Claim in Spectator column that 32,000 Muslims are 'eager to commit next terror atrocity' was 'significantly inaccurate', rules IPSO
March 9, 2018
  • Digital Journalism
  •    
  • News
  •    
  • Social media
  •    

False news spreads 'significantly' further and faster than the truth on social media, new landmark study finds

By Arun Kakar Twitter

Share this

  • Tweet
  • Share 0
  • Reddit
Comments
0

A landmark study of some 126,000 Twitter posts has found that false news on social media spreads “significantly” further and faster than the truth.

The study analysed every major contested news story in English that was published on Twitter between 2006 and 2017. It concluded that the truth takes six times longer than false news to reach people.

The top 1 per cent of false stories “routinely” reached between 1,000 and 100,000 people, whereas true stories “rarely” spread to more than 1,000 people.

False political news was the most popular, reaching twice as many people nearly three-times faster than all other types of false news. So, if for example true news reached 10,000 people, false news would reach 20,000 people three times quicker.

The investigation, published in the journal Science by Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Sinan Aral, used linguistic analysis software and fact-checking websites to verify or debunk stories.

The study used the term “false news” rather than “fake news” because it said the latter had become too distorted as politicians apply it to news sources that do not support their positions, whether true or not.

It said it made no claims about the “intent of the purveyors of the information in our analyses,” but focused attention on “veracity and stories that have been verified as true or false.”

Using bot-identifying software, the study found that false news is actually  spread more by humans – compared to the true news – than bots (a piece of software that can act autonomously on the social network). Bots, accelerated the spread of true and false news at the same rate.

The main reason suggested for the increased spread of false news was that it is more “novel” and so people are more likely to share this kind of information on social media.

According to the report: “Whereas false stories inspired fear, disgust and surprise in replies, true stories inspired anticipation, sadness, joy, and trust.”

Picture: Reuters/Kacper Pempel/Illustration/File Photo

Related Stories

  • The week ahead: G8, Egyptian elections and Adam Smith at Leveson
  • Journalists at Leicester Mercury condemn 'cavalier attitude to axing editorial staff'
  • Super injunctions, Milly Dowler, Johann Hari, Andy Coulson, the end of the NotW...Press Gazette's 10 biggest stories of 2011
  • Media Trust and ITV news announce 'Breaking Into News' finalists

Explore these topics

  • Fake news
  • Twitter
Browse, search and add journalism jobs
Comments
No comments to display

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

More content

Post a job on Press Gazette

Most Popular

  1. cookies Enter Sandbox: How Google is building an internet without cookies - and why publishers are concerned
  2. Washington Post plans to grow newsroom to record size (1,000+ journalists) in 2021 after hitting digital ad and subscription peaks
  3. Independent TV launches as title reports revenue up 23% year on year
  4. PA wins High Court injunction against union issuing 'fake' press passes to 'citizen journalists'
  5. The Times Lucy Fisher On the Record: Times defence correspondent Lucy Fisher - 'Working in news is the best job in the world'

Latest Jobs

  • Editor in Chief, Scottish Sun
  • Features Producer, Economist Radio
Guardian defends Saudi prince ads despite criticism of regime in paper, saying ads 'in no way affect our editorial position'

© copyright 2021 Press Gazette Ltd. Made in Taiwan.