The Web of False Information: Rumors, Fake News, Hoaxes, Clickbait, and Various Other Shenanigans

A new era of Information Warfare has arrived. Various actors, including state-sponsored ones, are weaponizing information on Online Social Networks to run false information campaigns with targeted manipulation of public opinion on specific topics. These false information campaigns can have dire consequences to the public: mutating their opinions and actions, especially with respect to critical world events like major elections. Evidently, the problem of false information on the Web is a crucial one, and needs increased public awareness, as well as immediate attention from law enforcement agencies, public institutions, and in particular, the research community. In this paper, we make a step in this direction by providing a typology of the Web's false information ecosystem, comprising various types of false information, actors, and their motives. We report a comprehensive overview of existing research on the false information ecosystem by identifying several lines of work: 1) how the public perceives false information; 2) understanding the propagation of false information; 3) detecting and containing false information on the Web; and 4) false information on the political stage. In this work, we pay particular attention to political false information as: 1) it can have dire consequences to the community (e.g., when election results are mutated) and 2) previous work show that this type of false information propagates faster and further when compared to other types of false information. Finally, for each of these lines of work, we report several future research directions that can help us better understand and mitigate the emerging problem of false information dissemination on the Web

Credibility in Online Social Networks: A Survey

The importance of information credibility in society cannot be underestimated given that it is at the heart of all decision-making. Generally, more information is better; however, knowing the value of this information is essential for the decision-making processes. Information credibility defines a measure of the fitness of the information for consumption. It can also be defined in terms of reliability, which denotes the probability that a data source will appear credible to the users. A challenge in this topic is that there is a great deal of literature that has developed different credibility dimensions. In addition, information science dealing with online social networks has grown in complexity, attracting interest from researchers in information science, psychology, human–computer interaction, communication studies, and management studies, all of whom have studied the topic from different perspectives. This work will attempt to provide an overall review of the credibility assessment literature over the period 2006–2017 as applied to the context of the microblogging platform, Twitter. The known interpretations of credibility will be examined, particularly as they relate to the Twitter environment. In addition, we investigate levels of credibility assessment features. We then discuss recent works, addressing a new taxonomy of credibility analysis and assessment techniques. At last, a cross-referencing of literature is performed while suggesting new topics for future studies of credibility assessment in a social media context

Unofficial media, government trust, and system confidence evidence from China: an empirical exploration of the attitudes of Netizens based on the dual moderating effect

Mass media has a significant impact on public support for the government. This manuscript constructs a mixed model with official media use as the moderating variable and government trust as the intermediary variable to explore the mechanism of how unofficial media use affects system confidence, using data from a survey of the political and social attitudes of netizens (2015). The study finds that official media use weakens the negative role of unofficial media use in building system confidence, with the intermediary variable of government trust creating the necessary conditions for weakening the effect of unofficial media use. Moreover, the effect of unofficial media use on system confidence is heterogeneous. These findings remind us that it is necessary to deepen research into the micromechanisms that explain how unofficial media use reduces system confidence, a task for which cognitive theory is well suited

Catastrophic health expenditure and mental health in the older Chinese population: the moderating role of social health insurance

OBJECTIVES: Catastrophic health expenditure (CHE) has considerable effects on household living standards, but little is known regarding the relationships between CHE and people's mental health. Using China as an example, this study examines the association between CHE and mental health and investigates whether the association differs between those with and without social health insurance (SHI). METHODS: The data came from 3 waves of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (2011, 2013, and 2015, N = 13,166). We focused on older people aged 60 and older. We built panel data regression and quantile regression models to analyze the data. RESULTS: Incurring CHE is significantly associated with poor mental health. The association is weakened among older people receiving SHI, which indicates that SHI has a protective effect. Moreover, the association between CHE and mental health and the protective effect of SHI are stronger among those with mild or moderate mental health problems. DISCUSSION: Our findings provide empirical evidence that encourages the integration of psychologically informed approaches in health services. We also urge governments in low- and middle-income countries to consider more generous health financing mechanisms for older people with greater health care needs

How service quality and outcome confidence drive pre-outcome word-of-mouth

Existing research on word-of-mouth (WOM) referrals has rarely considered what drives consumers to engage in pre-outcome WOM (i.e., referrals before they have experienced the final service outcome). This study argues that WOM behavior that predates the service outcome is driven by the interplay between present experience (perceived quality of the service process) and anticipations of the future outcome (outcome confidence). Drawing upon perceived risk theory, the study explores how outcome confidence and service process quality independently predict WOM behavior and how outcome confidence moderates the impact of process quality on WOM behavior. We investigate these issues with customers of a driving school and use a multilevel modelling approach to test the hypotheses. The results show that consumers with higher levels of outcome confidence are more willing than low-confidence consumers to transmit pre-outcome WOM. However, the study also finds that outcome confidence compensates for process quality such that the effect of process quality diminishes when outcome confidence is high. The key managerial implication of the study’s finding is that managers can tactically use outcome confidence to compensate for low levels of process or employee service quality

Sina Weibo and its political implications: a case study of the Zhou Yongkang incident

After the Chinese government blocked Facebook in 2008 and Twitter in 2009 in mainland China, perspicacious Chinese Internet service providers have invented alternative social media platforms. Sina Weibo is one of them. Scholars studying the Internet and social media in Western countries have suggested that social media have the potential to construct a unique online public sphere and contribute to a much deeper social change. However, social media and its social and political implications in such a populous developing country with 710 million Internet users have not been thoroughly addressed due to the linguistic estrangement and the firm historical association of the new communication technology with democratic discourse. Furthermore, among the literature studying Chinese Internet, there is a lack of empirical research. The number of studies that look directly into the Chinese social media content is still relatively small. Therefore, this study is an effort to fill this gap through an empirical case study to map out the distinct dynamics in China’s online public sphere facilitated by Sina Weibo. This thesis strives to examine Weibo’s role in facilitating public discussion and constructing an online public sphere in China. To this end, it analyses Sina Weibo users’ discussion about the Zhou Yongkang incident. The theoretical framework applied in this study originates from Habermas’s conception of the public sphere and Warner’s notion of publics. Since these theories formed in Anglophone context, this study focuses on extrapolating the theories into Chinese context. This study uses mixed research methods. It uses both quantitative content analysis and qualitative critical discourse analysis. A wide range of political, social and historical perspectives are also employed to explore the diverse discourse and dynamic interaction on Weibo. Drawing from the public discussion in Zhou’s case, the thesis paints a relatively promising picture of the social media as a platform for personal expression in public discussion on political issues, comparatively jumping out of the discourse agenda set by the government and state media. The interaction among users indicates that rational-critical debate has become a part of China’s online public sphere

Understanding what drives consumers’ electronic word-of-mouth behavior in a multichannel, multimedia and multiscreen environment

JEL Classification: M31, M39O objectivo da presente dissertação consiste em investigar a intenção dos consumidores em escolher canais electrónicos quando decidem partilhar informação (boca-a-boca) com outras pessoas, num ambiente de múltiplos canais e dispositivos. O estudo explora as motivações dos consumidores aquando pretendem transmitir informação, com o objctivo de perceber o que os leva a (1) envolver-se neste tipo de comunicação, especificamente na indústria das companhias aéreas, e (2) associar essas motivações à intençao de uso de vários canais electrónicos para a partilha da informação. Foi realizado um questionário online, determinando uma amostra de 103 adultos portugueses, de forma a analisar quantitativamente as hipóteses propostas, através de análises estatísticas para factores e associações lineares entre as variáveis. Os resultados sugerem que as motivações dos consumidores para a partilha de informação influenciam positivamente a escolha de múltiplos canais electrónicos para a sua transmissão, sendo que a preocupação pelos outros, ajudar a empresa, e expressar maus sentimentos consistem nas principais motivações. Foi ainda verificado que o conhecimento prévio sobre um canal influencia positivamente a sua posterior utilização. A dissertação ainda oferece sugestões para as empresas desenvolverem estratégias sobre a utilização de canais electrónicos no contexto da intenção dos consumidores em partilhar informação sobre a empresa. Desta forma, o estudo prevê um avanço no conhecimento na área de gestão de múltiplos canais electrónicos, através da investigação das motivações que levam os consumidores a escolher certos canais na transmissão de informação.he purpose of the current dissertation is to investigate the intention of consumers to channel usage when engaging in electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) communications, in a context of multichannel, multimedia and multiscreen environment. The study explores consumer’s motivations for eWOM in order to understand what takes consumers (1) to engage in this type of communication, specifically in the airline services industry, and (2) associate these motivations to channel usage intention and consequent multichannel behavior. A questionnaire was conducted, with a sample of 103 Portuguese adults, in order to perform a quantitative statistical analysis with factor analysis and linear regression between the variables. Findings suggest that eWOM motivations influences multichannel behavior, being concern for others, helping the company, and venting negative feelings the principal motivations for a multichannel behavior. Additionally, obtained findings suggest that perceived channel knowledge has a positive important in explaining consumer’s choice of online channels. The research offers suggestions to develop multichannel strategies in a context of eWOM intentions as this study advances knowledge in the multichannel management field by investigating why and how consumers choose channels for transmitting eWOM

Dialectic tensions in the financial markets: a longitudinal study of pre- and post-crisis regulatory technology

This article presents the findings from a longitudinal research study on regulatory technology in the UK financial services industry. The financial crisis with serious corporate and mutual fund scandals raised the profile of compliance as governmental bodies, institutional and private investors introduced a ‘tsunami’ of financial regulations. Adopting a multi-level analysis, this study examines how regulatory technology was used by financial firms to meet their compliance obligations, pre- and post-crisis. Empirical data collected over 12 years examine the deployment of an investment management system in eight financial firms. Interviews with public regulatory bodies, financial institutions and technology providers reveal a culture of compliance with increased transparency, surveillance and accountability. Findings show that dialectic tensions arise as the pursuit of transparency, surveillance and accountability in compliance mandates is simultaneously rationalized, facilitated and obscured by regulatory technology. Responding to these challenges, regulatory bodies continue to impose revised compliance mandates on financial firms to force them to adapt their financial technologies in an ever-changing multi-jurisdictional regulatory landscape