Misinformation Matters: Online Content and Quality Analysis

Description

What is "misinformation"? Why does it matter? How does it spread on the internet, especially on social media platforms? What can we do to counteract the worst of its effects? Can we counteract its effects now that it is ubiquitous? These are the questions we answer in this book. We are living in an information age (specifically an "algorithmic age") which prioritizes information "quantity" over "quality". Social media has brought billions of people from across the world together online and the impact of diverse platforms, such as Facebook, WeChat, Reddit, LinkedIn, Signal, WhatsApp, Gab, Instagram, Telegraph, and Snapchat, has been transformational. The internet was created, with the best of intentions, as an online space where written content could be created, consumed and diffused without any real intermediary. This empowering aspect of the web is still, mostly, a force for good. People, on the whole, are better informed and online discussion is more inclusive because barriers to participation are reduced. As activity online has grown, however, an expanding catalogue of research reveals a darker side to social media, and the internet generally. Namely, misinformation’s ability to negatively influence our behaviour both online and offline. The solution we provide to this growing dilemma is informed by Ludwig Wittgenstein’s Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, which examines the relationship between language and reality from a philosophical perspective, and complements Claude Shannon’s Information Quantity Theory, which addresses the quantification, storage and communication of digital information from a mathematical perspective. The book ends by setting out a model designed by us: a "Wittgensteinian" approach to information quality. It defines content published online by clarifying the propositions and claims made within it. Our model’s online information quality check allows users to effectively analyse the quality of trending online content. This approach to misinformation analysis and prevention has been designed to be both easy to use and pragmatic. It upholds freedom of speech online while using the "harm principle" to categorise problematic content. Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents Preface About the Authors Chapter 1: Introduction Online Platforms’ Existential Crisis Economic Impact of Misinformation Falsehood Travels Fast The Algorithmic Age Computationalism Notes Chapter 2: Background A Brief History of Falsehood Propagation The Invention of the Printing Press and (Mis)information Propagation From Mass Media to Fragmented Media Social Media’s Turn from Democracy to Authoritarianism Propaganda Note Chapter 3: A Philosophical Approach Facts, Belief, Opinion and Truth Leibniz and Frege on “Truth” and “Fact” Checking for “Truth” and “Fact” Online through Analysis Decision and Action William James’ Live/Dead Hypotheses W.V. Quine on Two Dogmas Obstructing Pragmatism Bertrand Russell’s Scepticism Frank Ramsey’s Principle The Connection between Wittgenstein and Ramsey Philosophy of Information Our Own Model Note Chapter 4: Interventions Content Moderation Behavioural Nudges Information Quality Ranking versus Algorithmic Ranking How Facebook’s News Feed Works ( Facebook 2021) Twitter’s Switch to Algorithmic Ranking of Content Vanity Metrics and Quality Metrics Bridging-Based Ranking of Content Algorithmic Choice Receptive Reading and Participatory Restraint Media/Information/News/Digital Literacy Natural Language Processing, AI and Misinformation Prevention GPT-3 Language Model Chapter 5: Analysing the Problem Origins of Modern Logic and Language Processing Systems The Chomsky-Norvig Debate AI Limitations and Prospects Father of the Information Age Information Quality Theory Free Speech and the Harm Principle The Harm Principle 2.0 Free Speech, Free Reach, Free Expression and Free Impression The Misinformation Challenge A Systems Approach to Misinformation Analysis Misinformation and Malinformation Off-information and Non-information Wittgenstein’s Approach The Key Theses in Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus Notes Chapter 6: The Global Online Information Quality Check Model How Does This Analytical Model Work? We Foresee Three Ways of Using Our Proposed Model Chapter 7: Conclusion Appendix: Detailed Survey Questions and Results Survey Question 1 Survey Question 2 Survey Question 3 Survey Question 4 Survey Question 5 Survey Question 6 Survey Question 7 Survey Question 8 Survey Question 9 Survey Question 10 Glossary of Terms Bibliography Further Reading A Misinformation Prevention Reading List I. Books II. Reports/Monographs/Manuals/Government Documents III. Papers/Articles IV. Blog Posts/Opinion V. More Advanced Material Index