Online Bots Are Spreading Fake News. Now Researchers Are Fighting Them With Bots Of Their Own.

A new UT-Arlington project aims to call out automated news distribution on Twitter.

By Rhonda FanningJuly 25, 2017 2:16 pm,

Researchers at the University of Texas at Arlington are taking on the fake news of the world.

The project, aptly named “Bot versus Bot: Automated Detection of Fake News Bots,” will develop tools to detect online social bots that create and spread fake news.

The false news-combatting algorithms will focus on Twitter, where bot accounts run by computer programs can seem deceptively real. The accounts automatically post content, follow other Twitter users and leave comments.

The project is funded through the Texas National Security Network Excellence and led by Chengkai Li, an associate professor in UTA’s Department of Computer Science and Engineering.

Mark Tremayne, an assistant professor of communication and collaborator on the project, explains how fake news stories can be evaluated by the social networks they spread through.

 

Written by Rachel Rascoe.