social media information disorder - bots and AI in spreading misleading information in society

What is it about?

This paper presents an analysis on information disorder in social media platforms. The study employed methods such as Natural Language Processing, Topic Modeling, and Knowledge Graph building to gain new insights into the phenomenon of fake news and its impact on critical thinking and knowledge management. The analysis focused on four research questions: 1) the distribution of misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation across different platforms; 2) recurring themes in fake news and their visibility; 3) the role of artificial intelligence as an authoritative and/or spreader agent; and 4) strategies for combating information disorder. The role of AI was highlighted, both as a tool for fact-checking and building truthiness identification bots, and as a potential amplifier of false narratives. Strategies proposed for combating information disorder include improving digital literacy skills and promoting critical thinking among social media users.

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Why is it important?

Social networking platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, expose their users to an unprecedented amount of information, where purchase suggestions from recommendation systems, information and opinions from other users, as well as breaking news coexist, which is rather worrying considering the growing importance of social media networks for millions of people worldwide [1–3]. The rise of social media as a source of news and information has been marked by several concurrent phenomena: firstly, the convenience and accessibility of such media facilitate access to news and information from a wide range of sources, generally unverified [4]; the pervasiveness and ubiquity associated with the mode of use (e.g., mobile phone applications) mean that one does not have to wait for the next edition of a newspaper or television program [5]; the underlying social nature of such applications favors the rapid, immediate, and therefore uncontrolled dissemination of content among one’s contacts (both close and acquaintances) and, in a chain, among contacts’ contacts [6]. The well-established phenomenon of homophily (i.e., the tendency to associate among similar individuals) creates online communities that are strengthened by sharing interests, values, and worldviews, amplifying the pervasiveness of ideas that can thus find fertile ground (e.g., viral ideas and memes) [7,8]. While the spread of news and information via social networks has, in some cases, made a significant positive contribution (e.g., Arab Spring, Black Lives Matter, Iranian Women’s Demands for Freedom and similar civil rights uprisings) [6,9–11], many other times there are considerable concerns about the quality and reliability of the information that is shared on these platforms [12,13]. Social media platforms have been widely criticized for their role in spreading misinformation, fake news and disinformation, which can have a significant negative impact on individuals, communities and societies [14,15], as well as for themselves [16]. Although several review works have considered the importance of social media in relation to various phenomena related to the dissemination of untruthful information, to the best of our knowledge it is unclear how these phenomena are distributed over the different existing platforms [17–20]. As social media continue to evolve and play an increasingly central role in the lives of millions of people in an increasingly globalized world, it would be important to create an ideal snapshot of these developments. To avoid confusion, we need to clarify the differences between the various Information Disorders (ID) that may appear very similar at first glance

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