Pranav Goel
London E1W 1YW, UK
Portland, ME 04101
2nd floor
11th floor
Boston, MA 02115
London E1W 1LP, UK
Talk recording
Twitter users who share news from outlets known to publish false information (fake news) also share some news from reputable sources online, including sources to which they may be ideologically opposed. Why? To study the news sharing behavior of misinformation spreaders on Twitter, we first identify news from reputable sources that are significantly co-shared with fake news. Then we test one hypothesis for why such news might be shared by misinformation spreaders: in order to fit existing narratives that characterize misinformation content. As compared to users who do not share fake news, tweets by misinformation spreaders sharing news from reputable sources make use of misinformation narratives, i.e., such tweets do serve a narrative-fitting function. Apart from showing that one of the reasons why such information share happens is to fit narratives, we look at how mainstream news articles might be used to support specific misinformation narratives. Misinformation is not just a collection of false statements but is often part of bigger narratives and world views. By studying the co-opting of news that might not contain anything false, but can still be used to support narratives present in misinformation content, we can gain a better understanding of the world of online misinformation.