Internet governance in the “post-truth era”: Analyzing key topics in “fake news” discussions at IGF

Content characteristics predict the putative authenticity of COVID-19 rumors

“…We, thus, further used logistic regression to examine the relationship between the veracity of rumors and eight independent variables in a single model. Our analysis met all the assumptions of using the logistic regression, including: ( 1 ) the response variable (veracity) is binary, ( 2 ) the observations are independent, ( 3 ) there is no multicollinearity among explanatory variables as indicated by low variance inflation factor (VIF) values (headline: 5.00; statement: 3.88; place: 1.82; time: 2.16; source cue: 1.34; visual: 1.16; emotion:1.08; and call for action: 1.82), ( 4 ) there are no extreme outliers, and ( 5 ) the sample size was determined based on the number of independent variables. We found that a minimum sample size of 500 yields reliable and valid sample estimates ( 63 ).…”

“…Rumors are unverified information that circulates online and offline ( 1 – 3 ). Rumors regarding COVID-19 can be unverified facts, misunderstandings of facts, a pursuit of factual information, a question on current policies, or deliberate deception ( 2 , 4 – 7 ). A recent poll in the United Kingdom showed that 46% of citizens came across rumors about COVID-19 ( 8 ).…”

What do telecommunications policy academics have to fear from GPT-3?

“…The easy diffusion of information through online channels had created earlier the hope that the old problems (including in policy) of information that is expensive and unevenly distributed have been solved (Tabarrok & Cowen 2015). However the cheap and efficient distribution of content that is (at least, a little bit) costly to create have unfortunately already given us the scourges of misinformation and disinformation (Horne 2021) while the options to regulate these are not inspiring (Hazlett 2022). This was true when real people were still working quite hard to produce 'fake news' for online consumption (Kreps et al 2020).…”

Mapping automatic social media information disorder. The role of bots and AI in spreading misleading information in society

“…However a different dimension to the issue is highlighted by pointing out that anti-critical thinking practices can be detrimental to the development of critical thinking skills [363,364]. Such practices can limit free speech, suppress dissenting opinions, and promote misinformation, which can hinder the understanding of complex topics [365,366]. Therefore, it is essential to address the issue of anti-critical thinking to ensure that individuals develop the necessary skills to navigate the complex information landscape of social media.…”