FACT CHECKING AGENCIES AND PROCESSES TO FIGHT …

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FACT CHECKING AGENCIES AND PROCESSES TO FIGHT AGAINST FAKE NEWS

Eglée Ortega-Fernández, Graciela Padilla-Castillo, Sonia Laura Carcelén-García, Mario Arias-Oliva

Antonio de Nebrija University and Complutense University of Madrid (Spain), Complutense University of Madrid (Spain) Madrid (Spain); Complutense University of Madrid (Spain)¸

Complutense University of Madrid (Spain)

[email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]

INTRODUCTION

We are living in the Smart Society, where citizens are connected to other people and devices that generate an incalculable amount of information each second. The Smart Society looks for the increase of the well-being of citizens, the strength of the economy, and the effectiveness of institutions based on the innovative use of emerging smart digital technologies (Chakravorti & Chaturvedi). According to the World Economic Forum (2020), the digital universe is expected to reach 44 zettabytes in 2020.

Citizens are producing, consuming and exchanging information every day: sharing photos, personal videoconferences, social media content, or streaming services. And business is generating, exchanging and consuming digital information every day with eCommerce, teleworking, intranet access or global information systems. But paradoxically, at the moment with the most information available for citizens, we are probably worse informed than ever before. There are several reasons that explain this paradox.

We are losing the freedom to choose our source of information. An algorithm is deciding for us, filtering and suggesting what is the information of any kind (such as commercial, news, media or streaming) that we should consume. That way of organizing information provokes a narrowed mind in which vision and understanding of individuals and society are biased. The shared vision and the shared values are the ones decided by the algorism with the ethical concerns that this fact represents: who manages the algorithm, manages society and individuals.

It could be considered as the hacking of the human brain. According to Harari (2019), to hack a human being three things are needed: solid knowledge of biology, a lot of data about human behaviours and an important computer capacity. The Inquisition or the KGB never succeeded in penetrating human beings because they lacked this knowledge of biology, data about individual and aggregate behaviours, and computer capacity.

Nowadays companies such as the GAFAM (Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple and Microsoft) and governments are developing all these tools and knowledge, and probably they will be -or they are- hacking us. They will not only be able to predict our decisions, but also to manipulate our feelings. In this digital environment, governments and corporations are using this new technique to manipulate us, and fake news is an emerging strategy.

The term "fake news" is used to mean disinformation through the use of dissemination of totally false messages or manipulation of information (misinformation) trying to bias information to achieve the desired goal (Watts, 2018). In both cases, the intention of cheating to serve a certain cause exists. Satirical information or news messages misleading that based on a true fact biases it by manipulation or decontextualization are increasingly in our society. Fake news is spreading in politics; journalism, law and policies or social media (Zimdars & McLeod, 2020).

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4. Ethics of Emerging Technologies

220 Jorge Pelegrín-Borondo, Mario Arias-Oliva, Kiyoshi Murata, Ana María Lara Palma (Eds.)

These messages can have geopolitical consequences, for example by creating or fuelling conflicts, changing the intention to vote, or by putting public opinion for or against a certain social problem. Citizens increasingly trust these types of messages, being not able to distinguish between what is fake news and real news.

According to Arias-Oliva and Khawly (2021), the control of messages disseminated through the Internet is increasing their social and economic influence. The news that is created and shared quickly in social media can generate significant advertising returns when readers access the original website (Fielden, Grupac & Adamko, 2018), and fake news with polarized messages generate more traffic than real news.

A study found that fake news are diffused significantly faster, deeper, and more broadly than the real news, and the effects were more pronounced for political fake news than for other information such as terrorism, natural disasters, science, urban legends, or financial information (Vosoughi, Roy & Aral, 2018). Fake news are designed to become viral information, exploring all possible aspects to attract the reader’s attention, from the title design to the language used throughout the body of the text (Baptista & Gradim, 2020).

Beyond fake news practices as an unethical method to increase traffic and revenue, an even more concerning practice is the use for geopolitical purposes. Facebook and Twitter are no longer used mainly as a way to connect us with family and friends or connecting brands with customers. Facebook now has 2.7 billion accounts worldwide and has become a political influencer. Twitter, with 1.3 billion accounts created, has only 330 million active accounts per month, with a significant number of manipulated accounts (EC Financial News, 2020).

Both networks have become a powerful instrument of institutional and political communication, but also of disinformation. Through real or fictitious users, they are instruments to manipulate public opinion. Armies of manipulated Twitter accounts are used through complex artificial intelligence systems to redirect public opinion for certain purposes. These systems are called bots, which from the so-called "bots farms" try to influence the electoral results representing a serious threat to the sovereignty of countries.

Marcellino, Johnson, Posard and Helmus (2020) analysed these techniques in the last presidential elections in the United States. Their report proves the existence of electoral interference through the use of trolls (fake people who spread a variety of sensitive information and news in an exaggerated way) and super-voters (highly networked accounts that can spread messages effectively and quickly).

The study did not identify the origin of the accounts, but interference seems to favour Russian interests according to the authors, who transparently describe the methods used to identify the dubious accounts.

As an example of this algorithm polarization is the report published by Pew Research Center (2014). We can see the consequences of and fake news in the USA political arena. According to the study, 92% of Republicans are to the right of the median Democrat, and 94% of Democrats are to the left of the median Republican, as we can see in Figure 1.



Figure 1. Polarization of USA political opinions.

Source: Pew Research Center (2014).

FACT CHECKING NEWS AGENCIES AND PROCESSES

Fact checking news agencies are groups of specialists, who are usually journalists, dedicated to denying or reviewing fake news to show the truth to the public. This type of communication media and projects dedicated to fact checking have grown in number around the world, boosted by the infodemic that the COVID-19 pandemic has created (Ortega-Fernández, 2021).

In Spain these groups have emerged and grown in an incipient way since 2018, when the digital verifier Newtral was born, followed by Maldita.es and EFE Verifica. After these three pioneers, other media have emerged in our country that are not only dedicated to verification, but also incorporate in their newscasts or web pages a section or section dedicated to disproving the hoaxes that run through social networks or media.

However, when studies are carried out on trust in these media dedicated to fact checking, they are not reflected like the conventional media. Perhaps due to its incipient creation and dissemination, people continue to resort to traditional media, even when reliability levels are just above 50%.

Fact checking news agencies focus on very diverse criteria and tools to be able to determine the factors that make up a fake news. A study endorsed by the Andrés Bello Catholic University of Venezuela and the Venezuelan Fake News Observatory (Pabón and Viloria, 2020) has recently been published where tools aimed at verifying images, text, geolocation or cameras are listed and briefly described, web, applications, browser extensions, online platforms and online courses, for this purpose.

As they are digital tools, some new ones are being updated and created even at the time of this publication, so we will focus on highlighting the procedure that is carried out by the media / platforms that participated in this research.



Figure 2. Confidence levels in Spanish media.

Source: Digital News Report (2020)

The processes are assimilated and adjusted according to the requirements and processes established by the agencies. In Venezuela there is a digital media completely dedicated to verification, called EsPaja.com (Figure 3), a verification portal that was born in October 2019 as an initiative of Transparency Venezuela with the sponsorship of the European Union.

Ana Griffin, editor-in-chief, details that the process can begin in two ways: editorial decision or by user requests. User requests come through WhatsApp or directly through the page. In both cases, the editor-in-chief takes note of what was requested and selects them according to the audience's interest, giving preference to issues that have to do with Venezuela or with public services. When they define it by editorial means, they are guided by the follow-up or continuity of the information in the news field.

Once the topics are defined, the drafting process begins to generate a note where it is defined if the information received is true, false or if it is between truth and lies, using verification tools for images, reverse search in Google, tools such as Invid or TinEye, even when required, a geolocation analysis is incorporated through Google Maps.



Figure 3. News agency homepage: Espaja.com.

Source: www.espaja.com (2021)

When we review this work to verification in other countries, the process changes. The fact checking news agency called Factual (Figure 4), that belongs to Agence France-Presse (AFP), have an active team since 2017, who verify news in Latin America with 20 journalists who work between languages: Catalan, Portuguese and Spanish.

The coordinator of the team, Elodie Martínez, details that the process is more proactive, monitoring through social networks, in addition to assessing the content of the requests they receive through WhatsApp. They rely on the CrowdTangle tool to weigh the virality and urgency of the issues, giving priority to issues that could cause damage to health, society, attacks or conflicts. They use their own extension co-developed by the agency, Invid WeVerify, which allows to launch the reverse search in 6 engines at the same time.

Another important point is that they try to contact the author of the original publication, in order to try to reach the official source, or consult various sources of their own to contrast the information.

http://www.espaja.com/



Figure 4. News agency homepage: Factual.afp.com.

Source: www.factual.afp.com/list (2021)

The fact checking portal Verifikado.com (Figure 5), according to its director Fernando Nunez-Noda, it is more automated. It begins when their own system that they have developed collects information from the news ecosystem based on consolidated generalist media and news integrators such as Google News to have a first filter, which reduces work time.

In the second step, the system determines the news of doubtful origin and reviews the media that replicates the information to analyze the internal positioning factors of those who publish and other external factors that include the public transparency of the medium that publishes, the quality that has and the recognition of who writes the news, to mention a few factors.

Regarding the content, they perform an analysis of factors called forensic to establish whether it is news that could be presented as evidence in a United States court of law, based on the concept of forensic evidence for the judicial system of that country. These steps allow them to categorize the news while continuing to feed the system to establish the patterns that constantly guide searches.

http://www.factual.afp.com/list



It emphasizes that the false news that is generated in China has different characteristics from those that are produced in Cuba, to mention an example, so the system they use usually analyzes these patterns and traces backwards, such as the IP (Internet Protocol) of the news, which can determine the origin of the news and its entire journey.

In Verifikado they are developing an algorithmic system based on Big Data, for the detection, disassembly and monitoring of fake news through an application.

Figure 5. News agency homepage: Verifikado.com.

Source: www.verifikado.com (2021)

From Argentina, there are also proposals focused on the verification of news with specific methods. The Desconfío.org (Figure 6) project aims to promote research on the dynamics of disinformation in the Spanish language and train journalists and media with strategies to detect and stop disinformation, offering digital solutions to users.

The Distrust Method, as they call it themselves, offers 10 steps for the verification of suspicious content, among which is included the reverse search of images, the identification and consultation of the cited sources, in addition to the contrast of the alternative sources, to mention some of the parameters they recommend.

This decalogue is recommended by the platform in the training it provides and is taken as a starting point to verify any type of news that has overtones of falsehood or is of doubtful origin, finally classifying it as Wrong Content (Mis-Information), Misinformation (Dis-Information) or Harmful Information (Bad-Information).

http://www.verifikado.com/



Figure 6. News agency homepage: Desconfio.org.

Source: www.desconfio.org/ (2021)

When reviewing these references, added to the avalanche of information that citizens receive every day, we might think that it is not possible for ordinary people to comply with these very specific processes. On the other hand, the fact checking media themselves declare that they cannot cover everything.

If we focus on the role of social networks as vehicles and amplifiers of fake news, it is perhaps the most difficult to control. This type of news appeals to the emotions of the users and awakens not very rational and very impulsive reactions because people seek to reinforce their beliefs, convictions and justify their fears.

Taking into account that the verifications contradict news that are popular, even if they are not real, people are frustrated by having fallen into the trap of sharing them and that is why they do not usually spread the denials with the same vehemence that they distribute false information that is amplified, and they go viral very easily on social networks.

However, platforms such as Twitter and Facebook have developed functionalities that seek to limit the spread of doubtful information. There is also a bot for WhatsApp, developed by the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) that allows the user to verify the information. YouTube has also joined in this drive to generate reliable information, as well as Google's section, called Discover, which relies on artificial intelligence.

Recognizing that there are key themes that are repeated in fake news, the global panorama that includes the pandemic, polarization in politics, struggles for equality and the environment, among others, is a very powerful breeding ground for keep creating and spreading fake news.

Fake news is usually part of campaigns organized by countries, economic groups, politicians or even free agents affiliated with some ideology or specific movements, which have a defined intention, either for political or economic interests.

Trends indicate that agencies will move from content curation to algorithm curation, since artificial intelligence may be the key to addressing the huge amount of data that arises from the virality of fake news.

http://www.desconfio.org/



CONCLUSIONS

Fake news has existed for a long time, what is relevant is the current moment, is that issues of great importance (pandemic, struggles for equality, political polarization) come together with citizens and hyperconnected people who are exposed to newspapers to hundreds of thousands of information from all.

Without a doubt, we need to reflect on the processes that must be followed and the options that exist to verify the information that circulates, since many factors conspire against a healthy news system.

Technology facilitates this task with tools that are being updated, but in a double direction, this same technology, through social networks, also makes it easier for hoaxes to go viral and reach millions of people in a very short time. We live in the post-truth era, where people share what is good for their cause or that supports their ideology, sometimes without criteria and without stopping to think if it is real.

This same technology is what also allows the development of systems through Big Data and the conjunction man / machine, whether artificial intelligence helps us with the task of eradicating fake news.

The current situation presents us with a challenging panorama, but as can be seen, detailing the actions that are being carried out, there are initiatives that are constantly working to end this phenomenon. It is a professional profile that opens opportunities for researchers and journalists to develop in the field of fact checking.

The creation of detection patterns, developed by individuals and by social media, plays a fundamental role in these actions, since they could be used in a generalized way with the same speed with which the information is received.

KEYWORDS: fake news, media reliability, social media, disinformation, misinformation.

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