From fallacies to semi-fake news: Improving the identification of misinformation triggers across digital media



Musi, Elena ORCID: 0000-0003-2431-455X and Reed, Chris
(2022) From fallacies to semi-fake news: Improving the identification of misinformation triggers across digital media. DISCOURSE & SOCIETY, 33 (3). pp. 349-370.

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Abstract

<jats:p> This study tackles the fake news phenomenon during the pandemic from a critical thinking perspective. It addresses the lack of systematic criteria by which to fact-check the grey area of misinformation. As a preliminary step, drawing from fallacy theory, we define what type of fake news convey misinformation. Through a data data driven approach, we then identify 10 fallacious strategies which flag misinformation and we provide a deterministic analysis method by which to recognize them. An annotation study of over 220 news articles about COVID-19 fact-checked by Snopes shows that (i) the strategies work as indicators of misinformation (ii) they are related to digital media affordances (iii) and they can be used as the backbone of more informative fact-checkers’ ratings. The results of this study are meant to help citizens to become their own fact-checkers through critical thinking and digital activism. </jats:p>

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: misinformation, fallacies, semi fake news, fact checking, multi-level annotation
Divisions: Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences > School of the Arts
Depositing User: Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited: 03 May 2022 13:52
Last Modified: 18 Jan 2023 21:27
DOI: 10.1177/09579265221076609
Related URLs:
URI: https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3140377