Fact-checking on Twitter: an analysis of the hashtag #StopBulos

Fri, 02/04/2022 - 10:47
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18/11/2021
Fact-checking on Twitter: an analysis of the hashtag #StopBulos

"Fact-checking on Twitter: an analysis of the hashtag #StopBulos"

 

A group of researchers from the Mind, Brain and Behavior Research Center of the University of Granada (UGR), members of the Laboratory of Social Psychology of Inequality (http://wwwlocal.ugr.es/~psidesigualdad/), have carried out a study in collaboration with the Euro-Arab Foundation for Higher Studies and the University of Salamanca on fake news verification. They characterized the use of the hashtag #StopBulos as an informal strategy for verifying information on the social network Twitter.

 

The main functions of the #StopBulos hashtag are to identify and disprove fake news, and to report fact-checking. This hashtag, according to the results obtained in the research, is used mostly by citizens and private companies, even more than companies that are dedicated to fact-checking. In addition, it is associated with fake news related to health and beauty or immigration and xenophobia.

 

In order to identify different communities that used the hashtag #StopBulos, according to the interactions between users, an algorithm was applied that identified its use by the National Police Force or the Ciudadanos political party, among others.

 

More information: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/355218599_Fact-checking_on_Twitter_An_analysis_of_the_hashtag_StopBulos

 

Researcher contact:

Mar Montoya Lozano: marml@ugr.es