Detecting misinformation in online social networks using cognitive psychology
Open Access
- 24 September 2014
- journal article
- Published by Springer Science and Business Media LLC in Human-centric Computing and Information Sciences
- Vol. 4 (1), 14
- https://doi.org/10.1186/s13673-014-0014-x
Abstract
The paper explores the use of concepts in cognitive psychology to evaluate the spread of misinformation, disinformation and propaganda in online social networks. Analysing online social networks to identify metrics to infer cues of deception will enable us to measure diffusion of misinformation. The cognitive process involved in the decision to spread information involves answering four main questions viz consistency of message, coherency of message, credibility of source and general acceptability of message. We have used the cues of deception to analyse these questions to obtain solutions for preventing the spread of misinformation. We have proposed an algorithm to effectively detect deliberate spread of false information which would enable users to make informed decisions while spreading information in social networks. The computationally efficient algorithm uses the collaborative filtering property of social networks to measure the credibility of sources of information as well as quality of news items. The validation of the proposed methodology has been done on the online social network `Twitter’.Keywords
This publication has 13 references indexed in Scilit:
- Analysis of misinformation containment in online social networksComputer Networks, 2013
- Misinformation and Its CorrectionPsychological Science in the Public Interest, 2012
- Containment of misinformation spread in online social networksPublished by Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) ,2012
- Information credibility on twitterPublished by Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) ,2011
- Limiting the spread of misinformation in social networksPublished by Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) ,2011
- TruthyPublished by Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) ,2011
- Biased but in Doubt: Conflict and Decision ConfidencePLOS ONE, 2011
- Twitter under crisisPublished by Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) ,2010
- A postmodern Pandora's box: Anti-vaccination misinformation on the InternetVaccine, 2010
- Conquest in CyberspacePublished by Cambridge University Press (CUP) ,2007