First presented by First Draft, this simplified diagram showing how misleading ideas get spread was re-presented in The Reuters Institute’s “Journalism, Media and Technology Trends and Predictions 2019.”
First Draft research shows that misleading content is often discussed first in the anonymous web (4chan and Discord), then co-ordinated in closed or semiclosed networks (WhatsApp or Facebook groups), is then socialised in conspiracy communities (Reddit forums, YouTube channels), before being seeded in a co-ordinated way in public networks like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Broadcast media and newspapers can then often make the problem worse by picking up and amplifying these claims. In September, social media scholar Dana Boyd warned that the media are being ‘played’ and need to be more aware of the role they can play in giving credence to unfounded claims…
As Ryan Broderick reported in the aftermath of the ‘MacronLeaks’ data dump on the eve of the French election in May 2017, users on 4chan celebrated when mainstream news outlets began fact-checking the controversy surrounding Macron’s financial affairs, boasting that the debunks were a ‘form of engagement’.
Read the full pieces at First Draft and Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at University of Oxford
