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Whitepaper
Misinformation and Disinformation: Brands in the Echo ChamberAugust 2018
Brands in the Echo Chamber Storyful 2
Introduction: The False Information Ecosystem 3
Chapter 1: Sharing, Not Caring 4
“Fake News” Websites 5
User-Generated Conspiracies 7
The Echo Chamber 7
The Clickbait Headline 9
TheInfluencer 9
Chapter 2: The Threat of Disinformation Ops 10
Fringe Networks 11
BotsandSockpuppets 11
SyntheticAudiovisuals 12
ReviewAttacks 13
Chapter 3: How Brands Can React 14
References 17
Table of Contents
Brands in the Echo Chamber Storyful3
Introduction: The False Information Ecosystem
In 2013, the World Economic Forum acknowledged the risks of a digital society,
warning that “hyperconnectivity could enable ‘digital wildfires’ to wreak havoc
in the real world.” Today, the risk of misinformation is no longer just a theory.
Misinformation is infecting geopolitics, global governance, and even the
reputations of sizeable brands.
Social media conversations are democratic in nature—They canbe regional or global, controlled oruncontrolled.Wheninfluentialvoicesconfidentlysharefalsefactsorpropaganda,inaccurateinformationcanquicklybecomecontagious—andtheproblemcompoundsexponentially.Withnoeditorialauthorityorreview,misinformationspreadsonlineatanalarmingrate.Strongpeer-to-peernetworksfuelindividualconfirmationbias,whilepolarizedechochambersfilteroutopposingviews.Theriseofalgorithmsthatautomaticallycuratepostsamplifiesvoicesevenmorerapidly.
How can a brand control its own narrative in a landscape so disintermediated? —Brandcontroversycanspringfromanycornerofafracturedonline landscape and is sometimes manufacturedmaliciously.Misinformationanddisinformationcanspurconsumerbacklash,creatingripplesthataffecteverythingfromday-to-dayoperationstolong-termreputationalhealth.
This whitepaper explores the different threats posed by misinformation and disinformation. It delineates the damaging ways in which false information is generated and spreads online—and the ways in which companies can protect themselves.
Brands in the Echo Chamber Storyful 4
False information can spread online for variousreasons. Some share it knowingly, with maliciousintent. But in many cases, information spreadsthrough users who have no clear knowledge of itsfalsehood. The primacy of social networks andour increasing dependence on digital makes usmore vulnerable to not only disinformation—falseinformationthatisdeliberatelyspreadtomislead—but also misinformation—information that isinaccurateormisleading,butspreadunintentionallyorevenbyaccident.
• “Fake News” Websites
• User-Generated Conspiracies
The Echo Chamber
The Clickbait Headline
TheInfluencer
Chapter 1: Sharing, Not Caring
Brands in the Echo Chamber Storyful 4
Brands in the Echo Chamber Storyful 5
Hundreds of websites seize the opportunity to disseminate misleading or false content through
social platforms. Reasons include:
Ideological motives
Promotingnegativesentimentaroundpublic figures, countries, state entities, or brands throughunsubstantiatedconspiratorialclaims.In2015,aviralclaimspreadonlinelinkingtheclosureofseveralWalmartstorestoagrandconspiracythatWalmartwascolludingwiththefederalgovernmenttoattacktheAmericanpeople.Theretailerwasforcedtopubliclydenytheclaims.
Financial motivation
Gaining more traffic (and ad revenue) bypromotingsensationalcontent.InthemiddleoffluseasoninJanuary2018,themisinformationwebsiteYourNewsWirepublishedanarticlewiththeheadline“CDCDoctor:‘Disastrous’FluShotIsCausingDeadlyFluOutbreak.”ThestorywaspromotedbyFacebook’salgorithmandbecameoneofthesite’stop-engagedstoriesinJanuary, andultimatelyrankedastheflustorywiththehighestoverallengagementonsocialmedia.
Commercial interests
Spreadingfalseinformationpretendingtobenewsreportswhilepromoting certain products or services.WithmorethantwomillionfollowersonFacebook,NaturalNewspublishespseudoscientificanti-vaccinationandanti-pharmaceuticalarticleswhileofferingitsownlineofnaturalhealingsupplementsinitsonlineshop.
“Fake News” Websites
Chapter 1: Sharing, Not Caring
Brands in the Echo Chamber Storyful 6
Chapter 1: Sharing, Not Caring
CDCDoctor:‘Disastrous’FluShotIsCausingDeadly
FluOutbreak806,122yournewswire.com
ThisIstheflusymptomyouaren’tlookingforbutneedto
knowabout232,916Popsugar
StillNotConvincedYouNeedaFluShot?First,It’s
NotAllAboutYou182,227NYTimes
CDCdirectorurgesfluvaccinationsaspediatricdeaths
mount109,296Reuters
Terrifyingfluseason:Whattolookoutforasgrowingnumberofyoungpeople
loselivesaftergettingsick106,155Fox8
7-year-old San Bernardinoboydiesofflu-relatedcondition
71,239ABC7
WidespreadFluHits46 States 69,010Weather.com
Flu-Related Articles Ranked by Highest Engagements on
Social Media
Brands in the Echo Chamber Storyful 7
User-Generated Conspiracies
Damaging false information might also begeneratedor sharedunintentionallybysocialmedia users. The nature of social media canthen give these stories traction well beyondtheiroriginallifecycle.Examplesinclude:
The Echo Chamber In November of 2016, a father uploaded avideo of his son suffering seizures allegedlycaused by the Bexsero meningitis B vaccineto “My child’s vaccine reaction,” an anti-vaccination Facebook page. “From injectionsitehewasnotthesamebaby.Within3weekshe started having siezures [sic],” wrote LukeMaguireinhispost,claimingtheboysufferedupto14seizuresperday.
The video went viral and was shared widelyacross the anti-vaxxer online community.SeveralU.K.tabloidsalsoamplifiedthevideo,distributing it with little scientific context.The post drove meningitis B-related mediacoverage in 2017, with users specificallydeflectingtheblameonBexsero.Bythetimethe video had 1.5 million views, it was re-edited and shared by U.S. alternative healthpromoterDavid“Avocado”Wolfewithhismorethan 11 million followers. Wolfe’s post wassharedmorethan400,000timesandreceivedmorethan27millionviewstodate.
Chapter 1: Sharing, Not Caring
Brands in the Echo Chamber Storyful8
Chapter 1: Sharing, Not Caring
The Flow of Anti-Vax Dialogue Through the
Social Ecosystem
Brands in the Echo Chamber Storyful 9
The Clickbait Headline
Fordecades,newspapershavebeenaccusedof distorting scientific studies and health-related information for the sake of catchyheadlines. In the era of digital media, theproblem has become even more prevalent.Catchybutmisleadingtitlesareapopularwayto attract clicks—even if they are lacking inimportantcontext.
In December 2016, the DailyMail publishedan article titled “Furious couple claim theirson started suffering from 14 seizures a dayafterhavingameningitis jab,”mentioningtheBexsero vaccine as a possible cause to theseizures.
The parents’ claim was emphasized in theheadline and throughout the article, but anexpertcitedsaying“itwasunlikelyhisfitswerevaccine-related”appearedfurtherdown,intheseventhparagraphofinthearticle.Thearticlewaspublishedafteravideoofaseizurewentviral on Facebook and gained engagementspecificallyamonganti-vaxxercommunities.
The Influencer
Online influencers—celebrities, politicians,or other public figures—intentionally andunintentionallyacceleratethespreadoffalseinformationbypushingitoutofaclosedechochamber to their millions of followers—andintothepublicdiscussion.Forexample,actorGeorge Takei shared a link to an article titled “ZikaVirusNottoBlame?DoctorsCiteMan-MadeCauseForBirthDefectEpidemic”withhis10millionfollowers.
Despiteaqualifyingskepticalcomment,Takei’spost was shared more than 24,000 times.Many of the shares happened months afterthe claimhas alreadybeendebunkedby thescientific community. In fact, the debunkingonly seemed to flare up new accusationsagainst Monsanto, a pesticide company, forallegedlybuyingthemedia’ssilence.
Chapter 1: Sharing, Not Caring
Brands in the Echo Chamber Storyful10
Information operations have been a type ofwarfare since ancient times, as adversariestried to manipulate their enemies by spreadingdisinformationtocausedeceptionorsowchaos.
Today, social media platforms are astonishinglyeffective vehicles for disinformation campaigns.A well-organized campaign can filter through topublicconsciousnessandmightsignificantlyimpactlong-term reputation. Online campaigns pushedby bots, falsified documents, sockpuppets, andtrollshavealreadytakenatollongovernmentsandcorporations.
• Fringe Networks
• Bots and Sockpuppets
• Synthetic Audiovisuals
• Review Attacks
Chapter 2: The Threat of Disinformation Operations
Brands in the Echo Chamber Storyful10
Brands in the Echo Chamber Storyful 11
Chapter 2: The Threat of Disinformation Operations
Fringe Networks
Bots and Sockpuppets
InJanuary2018,aFacebookpostaccusedStarbucksemployeesofcontaminatingdrinksorderedbywhitepeople.Theaccusationwasfirstpostedto4chanandresultedinanonlinemaelstrom.Starbucksvehementlydeniedtheallegations,butwasultimatelyforcedtobrieflycloseoneofitsstoresinAtlanta.WhilemajorsocialnetworkssuchasFacebook,TwitterorInstagramcanbeusedasconduitstomakecontentviral,fringeplatformsandonlinediscussionforumsfunctionashubstoorganizepropagandacampaigns.Byspreadingfakephotos,memes and hashtags on Reddit, TwitterandFacebook,4chanuserswereabletosowchaosforabrandinreallife.
Upto15%ofactiveTwitterusersareautomatedsocialmediaaccounts,or“bots,”accordingtoestimatesfromtheUniversityofCaliforniaandIndianaUniversity.At330millionmonthlyactiveusers,nearly50millionTwitteraccountscouldbebots.Botaccountsareautomaticallyoperatedandexisttoboostsignalsfromrealusers,creatingcontroversyoranoutpouringofsupportoutofthinair.
Sockpuppetaccountsareoperatedmanuallybyanonymoususers.Likebots,theypushfalseandmisleadinginformationinanattemptto“infect”regularusers,presentingfakeidentitiesonline,while hiding the true identity of their operators. In China, researchers at Harvard’s InstituteforQuantitative Social Science identified an army of paid posters flooding socialmedia withdistractions frommajorgovernmentalcrises—responsible forupto450millionpostsperyear.Theseusersareknowncolloquiallyasthe“50CentArmy,”forhowmuchtheymakeperpost.
“Anyone drink Starbucks in Atlanta, I hope not. Messaged this into the Starbucks facebook, if they dont get back about it I say we post it everywhere, and spam comment it on their Twitter, and Facebook posts.” (4chan.org, 7 January 2018)14
Brands in the Echo Chamber Storyful 12
Synthetic Audiovisuals
In 2017, researchers at the University ofWashington successfully created a fake yethighlyrealisticvideoofformerU.S.PresidentBarackObama—fromaudiofilesalone. Recent advancements in artificial intelligence haveenabledthecreationofhigh-qualitysyntheticaudioandvideo,whichcanbeusedtogeneratefake videos to smear brands, politicians, orpublicfigures.
Image via University of Washington researcher Supasorn Suwajanakorn on YouTube.
Could synthetic audiovisuals be used toattack a brand? Though the technology isstill emerging, it has already been used toreal-word effect (most notably in the worldof “deep fakes” or celebrity face-swap pornvideos),alarmingustothetechnology’sabilitytofoolviewers.
Chapter 2: The Threat of Disinformation Operations
Brands in the Echo Chamber Storyful13
Review Attacks
In September 2017, Amazon redactedhundredsofmostlyone-starreviewsofHillaryClinton’sbook,“WhatHappened?”
The reviews, submittedhoursafter thebookwas released, were triggered by a call to action onpro-TrumpsocialmediachannelsonReddit,Discord and 4chan. Months earlier, a similareffort on the same channels yielded similarresults after the release of Megyn Kelly’sbook,“SettleforMore.” SimilardisinformationcampaignscouldeasilybeconductedonYelp,
Drugs.com,TripAdvisor,orRottenTomatoes.
Not all review campaigns count on thehelp of the crowd. Online vendors suchas Reviewsthatstick.com, Shorttask.comor Rapidworkers.com allow companies topurchase reviews, which could be used for atargetednegativecampaignagainstproductsandservices.
Chapter 2: The Threat of Disinformation Operations
Brands in the Echo Chamber Storyful 14
Chapter 3: How Brands Can React
Forbrands,organizations,andevencontentcreators,itiscrucialtoidentifythespreadoffalseinformationat an early stage. By the time mainstream newsoutletsreportoninformationoperationsorthestorytrends across socialmedia, significant damage haslikely already been done. Brands across industriescantakethefollowingstepstominimizetheimpactofnegativecampaigns:
• Monitor brand mentions on fringe platforms
• Investigate the source
• Prepare a crisis communications plan
Brands in the Echo Chamber Storyful 14
Brands in the Echo Chamber Storyful 15
Chapter 3: How Brands Can React
Think like a reporter
Investigate the sources of false information. Whoexactlyisbehindeachcampaign?Whatinfluencersareperpetuatingtheseideas?Accuratethreatidentificationwillenableabrandtotargetitscrisiscommunicationsanddefenditsreputationmoreeffectively.
Prevention is better than cure
Make sure a crisis communications plan is in placeandcanbeactivatedswiftlywhenharmfulinformationisdiscovered.Ignoringfalseinformationatanearlystagewon’tmakeitdisappear.
Monitor brand mentions on social platforms—including the fringe.Monitoring4chan,Gab,andotherplatformsiscrucialtodetectingthreats at an early stage and reacting accordingly,beforethethreatsbreakintomainstreamconversation.
Monitoring Twitter and Facebookis not enough
Brands in the Echo Chamber Storyful 15
Brands in the Echo Chamber Storyful 16
References
1. Howell,Lee,etal.GlobalRisks2013.WorldEconomicForum,2013.http://reports.weforum.org/global-risks-2013/risk-case-1/digital-wildfires-in-a-hyperconnected-world/
2. Medrano,Kastalia.“FacebookSpreadsViralFakeNewsStoryAboutVaccines.”Newsweek,25January2018.http://www.newsweek.com/facebook-spreads-viral-fake-news-story-about-vaccines-791331
3. Pomeroy, Ross. “TheWorstWebsites for Science in 2016.” Real Clear Science, 26 November 2016.Accessed20March2018.
4. Peterson, Hayley. “The 5 stores that Walmart mysteriously closed are finally reopening.” BusinessInsider,2Septemberl2015.http://www.businessinsider.com/wal-mart-reopens-5-stores-it-suddenly-closed-2015-9
5. Maguire, Luke. Vaccine reaction seizures video. Facebook, 14November 2016. Accessed 13March2018.https://www.facebook.com/luke.maguire.560/videos/662697120568272/
6. 10-month-oldbabyconvulsesfromseizures ‘duetomeningitis jab.’”DailyMail. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/video/femail/video-1375019/10-month-old-baby-convulses-seizures-mengitis-jab.html
7. Wolfe, David. “Baby Boy Suffers From Seizures After Getting Vaccines.” Facebook, 13March 2017.https://www.facebook.com/DavidAvocadoWolfe/videos/10154311097431512/
8. Cha,Ariana Eunjung and LenaH. Sun. “U.S., Brazilian officials say no scientific basis for theory thatchemicals—ratherthanZikavirus—istoblameforbirthdefects.”WashingtonPost,17February2016.https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2016/02/17/could-chemicals-rather-than-the-zika-virus-be-to-blame-for-birth-defects-in-brazil/?utm_term=.70bb857e235e
9. Varol,Onur,etal.OnlineHuman-BotInteractions:Detection,Estimation,andCharacterization.CenterforComplexNetworksandSystemsResearch, IndianaUniversityand InformationSciences Institute,UniversityofSouthernCalifornia,March2017.https://arxiv.org/pdf/1703.03107.pdf
10. @TwitterIR.Q4 andFiscal Year 2017Letter toShareholders. Twitter, 8 February 2018. http://files.shareholder.com/downloads/AMDA-2F526X/6109081207x0x970892/F9B4F616-659A-454B-89C6-28480DA53CCA/Q4_2017_Shareholder_Letter.pdf
11. Gibson,Lydialyle. “China’sSocial-MediaSmokeScreen.”HarvardMagazine,May-June2017.https://harvardmagazine.com/2017/05/chinas-social-media-smoke-screen
12. Langston,Jennifer.“Lip-syncingObama:Newtoolsturnaudioclipsintorealisticvideo.”UWNews,11July 2017. http://www.washington.edu/news/2017/07/11/lip-syncing-obama-new-tools-turn-audio-clips-into-realistic-video/
13. Evon,Dan.“WereBlood,DogFecesandOtherHorrorsHiddenInsideStarbucksProducts?”Snopes,10January2018.
14. Anonymous.“AnyonedrinkStarbucksinAtlanta,Ihopenot.”4chan(/pol/),07January2018.Accessed13Match2018.http://archive.4plebs.org/pol/thread/155891152/
15. Ha, Thu-Huong. “Amazon just deleted over 900 reviews of Hillary Clinton’s new book.” Quartz, 13September 2017. https://qz.com/1076357/hillary-clintons-what-happened-amazon-just-deleted-over-900-reviews-of-hillary-clintons-new-book/
16. Ryn, Erin Gloria. “Amazon Battles Trolls Over Megyn Kelly Book.” Daily Beast, 16 November 2016.https://www.thedailybeast.com/amazon-battles-trolls-over-megyn-kelly-boo
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