Misinformation is not about bad facts: an analysis of the production and consumption of fringe content
Abstract What if misinformation is not an information problem? To understand the role of news publishers in potentially unintentionally propagating misinformation, we examine how far-right and fringe online groups share and leverage established legacy news media articles to advance their narratives....
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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SpringerOpen
2025-07-01
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| Series: | EPJ Data Science |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1140/epjds/s13688-025-00567-5 |
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| author | JooYoung Lee Emily Booth Hany Farid Marian-Andrei Rizoiu |
| author_facet | JooYoung Lee Emily Booth Hany Farid Marian-Andrei Rizoiu |
| author_sort | JooYoung Lee |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract What if misinformation is not an information problem? To understand the role of news publishers in potentially unintentionally propagating misinformation, we examine how far-right and fringe online groups share and leverage established legacy news media articles to advance their narratives. Our findings suggest that online fringe ideologies spread through the use of content that is consensus-based and “factually correct”. We found that Australian news publishers with both moderate and far-right political leanings contain comparable levels of information completeness and quality; and furthermore, that far-right Twitter users often share from moderate sources. However, a stark difference emerges when we consider two additional factors: 1) the narrow topic selection of articles by far-right users, suggesting that they selectively share news articles that engage with their preexisting worldviews and specific topics of concern, and 2) the difference between moderate and far-right publishers when we examine the writing style of their articles. Furthermore, we can identify users prone to sharing misinformation based on their communication style. These findings have important implications for countering online misinformation, as they highlight the powerful role that personal biases towards specific topics and publishers’ writing styles have in amplifying fringe ideologies online. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-4ecb08bd88724d479e916da72f6b5d1e |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2193-1127 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-07-01 |
| publisher | SpringerOpen |
| record_format | Article |
| series | EPJ Data Science |
| spelling | doaj-art-4ecb08bd88724d479e916da72f6b5d1e2025-08-20T03:04:26ZengSpringerOpenEPJ Data Science2193-11272025-07-0114112110.1140/epjds/s13688-025-00567-5Misinformation is not about bad facts: an analysis of the production and consumption of fringe contentJooYoung Lee0Emily Booth1Hany Farid2Marian-Andrei Rizoiu3Data Science Institute, University of Technology SydneyData Science Institute, University of Technology SydneySchool of Information, University of California, BerkeleyData Science Institute, University of Technology SydneyAbstract What if misinformation is not an information problem? To understand the role of news publishers in potentially unintentionally propagating misinformation, we examine how far-right and fringe online groups share and leverage established legacy news media articles to advance their narratives. Our findings suggest that online fringe ideologies spread through the use of content that is consensus-based and “factually correct”. We found that Australian news publishers with both moderate and far-right political leanings contain comparable levels of information completeness and quality; and furthermore, that far-right Twitter users often share from moderate sources. However, a stark difference emerges when we consider two additional factors: 1) the narrow topic selection of articles by far-right users, suggesting that they selectively share news articles that engage with their preexisting worldviews and specific topics of concern, and 2) the difference between moderate and far-right publishers when we examine the writing style of their articles. Furthermore, we can identify users prone to sharing misinformation based on their communication style. These findings have important implications for countering online misinformation, as they highlight the powerful role that personal biases towards specific topics and publishers’ writing styles have in amplifying fringe ideologies online.https://doi.org/10.1140/epjds/s13688-025-00567-5MisinformationOnline social mediaLinguistic style |
| spellingShingle | JooYoung Lee Emily Booth Hany Farid Marian-Andrei Rizoiu Misinformation is not about bad facts: an analysis of the production and consumption of fringe content EPJ Data Science Misinformation Online social media Linguistic style |
| title | Misinformation is not about bad facts: an analysis of the production and consumption of fringe content |
| title_full | Misinformation is not about bad facts: an analysis of the production and consumption of fringe content |
| title_fullStr | Misinformation is not about bad facts: an analysis of the production and consumption of fringe content |
| title_full_unstemmed | Misinformation is not about bad facts: an analysis of the production and consumption of fringe content |
| title_short | Misinformation is not about bad facts: an analysis of the production and consumption of fringe content |
| title_sort | misinformation is not about bad facts an analysis of the production and consumption of fringe content |
| topic | Misinformation Online social media Linguistic style |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1140/epjds/s13688-025-00567-5 |
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