Can Social Media Analysis Debunk Fake News? – Analyzing “Pizzagate”
While fake news is nothing new – according to rumors Elvis Presley is still alive, and Bigfoot has been sighted numerous times – social media allows susceptible people to spread unfounded and wrong rumors at the speed of light. Spreading false and damaging news is a proven and tested campaign strategy of fanatics during elections. The “swift boat veterans for truth” campaign by conservaties falsely claiming that 2004 democratic presidential candidate John Kerry showed dishonest behavior in the Vietnam war was seen as a key factor in swing states contributing to John Kerry’s defeat. At the end of the 2016 US Presidential elections, in early November an even more absurd claim was made, accusing Hillary Clinton to run a pedophile ring out of a pizza restaurant in Washington. Called “pizzagate”, it became a favorite call to arms among right-wing extremists and Donald Trump supporters, leading one incensed fanatic to drive a few hundred miles from Salisbury, North Carolina to ...