Fake News & Misinformation

WAS THAT AWESOME video real or fake? How could you tell? Well, from a physics perspective there are at least three methods to use in an analysis that will tell us if a video is fake.

Amnesty International launches a new site to help journalists verify YouTube videos.

Video of woman tearing wing mirror from catcaller’s van is viral dynamite – but it seems no one verified it before covering the story.

How can you tell when you’re looking at the real deal?

Computer scientist Supasorn Suwajanakorn shows how he used AI and 3D modeling to create photorealistic fake videos of people synced to audio, and discusses both the creative and more negative ethical implications of the technology.

Artist, photographer and Photoshop wizard Erik Johansson gives a fascinating insight into how he makes his impossible images look realistic.

Hany Farid, Professor of Computational Science at Dartmouth College, shows us that pictures are not always to be trusted and the human eye is the least equipped to tell the truth.

Article offering advice on how to spot fake images from Hany Farid, Professor of Computer Science at Dartmouth College.

Tips and tricks for spotting fake images.

Uses an algorithm to analyse photographs. Provides metadata that can help detect if an image has been manipulated.

A study from 2017 by the University of Warwick, which found that one third of fake images go undetected.

Watch out for those Twitter Bots!

Massive collections of fake accounts are lying dormant on Twitter, suggests research.

Not surprisingly, some reports say that there are as many as 20 million fake Twitter accounts. With a reported 500 million registered users, that comes out to roughly 4% of all Twitter accounts being fake (bots).

Article from the New York Times on how one simple fake Tweet can go viral!

Facebook is launching a campaign to help people spot fake news amid a growing advertising boycott putting pressure on the company to tackle misinformation and hate speech.

Tech-savvy rightwingers have been able to ‘game’ the algorithms of internet giants and create a new reality where Hitler is a good guy, Jews are evil and… Donald Trump becomes president

How the web giant appears to have modified some search results, but would like us not to notice!

Firm introduces user tools for reporting misleading content, and pledges to improve results generated by algorithm

An article exploring the positives and negatives of online algorithms, including how they can create filter bubbles and perpetuate bias.

Facebook, Twitter, Fox News – by blurring the truth, all pose a risk to democracy itself. But the US and EU can counter them together.