Trend Micro Research paper
The Fake News Machine: How Propagandists Abuse the Internet and Manipulate the Public
(PDF - 81 pages)
Introduction:
The term “fake news” became increasingly common during the past year. While this concept has many synonyms—disinformation campaigns, cyber propaganda, cognitive hacking, and information warfare—it’s just one facet of the bigger problem: the manipulation of public opinion to affect the real world. Thanks to the connectivity and digital platforms that make it possible to share and spread information, traditional challenges such as physical borders and the constraints of time and distance do not exist anymore. Unfortunately, it also makes it easier to manipulate the public’s perception of reality and thought processes, resulting in the proliferation of fake news that affects our real, non-digital environment. Each new incident shows how much impact the technological manipulation of public opinion can have on people’s daily lives.
Conclusions:
…. social media has very strong effects on the real world. It can no longer be dismissed as “things that happen on the internet”. What goes on inside Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms can change the course of nations. Neither does it help that social media is driven by subjective factors (i.e., the emotions and feelings of users), instead of objective things like facts. Everyone now has their own truth, which is based on their personal knowledge and experience and not much else.
…. In the past, elections were a contest between a country’s political parties, with each trying to get their own message out to the electorate. It was difficult, if not impossible, for external actors to influence an election. This is no longer the case, and political campaigns and parties now have to plan accordingly. They need to understand that parties outside of the political sphere have their own agenda and can use cyber propaganda and misinformation to influence campaigns and elections as well..
CNN video
This Fake News Machine gears up for 2020
https://youtu.be/tNsbKtckzcM
Investigation of sources of Fake News in Veles, Macedonia.
Fact Checker sites
- Snopes.com - Urban legends
- Politifact - US Politics
- Full Fact - UK Independent Fact Checking charity
- Fact Check - Channel 4 TV
- Reality Check - BBC
- Media Bias / Fact Check - Checks media sources for bias and fake news.
