A study of tweet veracity to separate rumours from counter-rumours

Alton Y.K. Chua; Snehasish Banerjee

doi:10.1145/3097286.3097290

A study of tweet veracity to separate rumours from counter-rumours

Alton Y.K. Chua, Snehasish Banerjee

Nanyang Technological University

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

8 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Rumours are known to propagate easily through computermediated communication channels such as Twitter. Their outbreak is often followed by the spread of 'counter-rumours', which are messages that debunk rumours. The probability of a tweet to be a counter-rumour is referred to as 'tweet veracity' in this paper. Since both rumours and counter-rumours are expected to contain claims of truth, the two might not be easily distinguishable. If Internet users fail to separate rumours from counter-rumours, the latter will not serve its purpose. Hence, this paper investigates the extent to which tweet veracity could be predicted by content as well as contributors' profile. The investigation focuses on the death hoax case of Singapore's first Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew on Twitter. A total of 1,000 tweets (500 rumours + 500 counter-rumours) are analyzed using binomial logistic regression. Results indicate that tweet veracity could be predicted by clarity, proper nouns, visual cues, references to credible sources, as well as contributors' duration of membership, and number of followers. The significance of these findings are highlighted.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	8th International Conference on Social Media and Society
Subtitle of host publication	Social Media for Good or Evil, #SMSociety 2017
Publisher	Association for Computing Machinery
ISBN (Electronic)	9781450348478
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/3097286.3097290
Publication status	Published - Jul 28 2017
Externally published	Yes
Event	8th International International Conference on Social Media and Society, #SMSociety 2017 - Toronto, Canada Duration: Jul 28 2017 → Jul 30 2017

Publication series

Name	ACM International Conference Proceeding Series
Volume	Part F129683

Conference

Conference	8th International International Conference on Social Media and Society, #SMSociety 2017
Country/Territory	Canada
City	Toronto
Period	7/28/17 → 7/30/17

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 Copyright is held by the owner/author(s). Publication rights licensed to ACM.

ASJC Scopus Subject Areas

Software
Human-Computer Interaction
Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
Computer Networks and Communications

Keywords

Counter-rumour
information quality
information veracity
Online rumour
Twitter
User-generated content

Access to Document

10.1145/3097286.3097290

Cite this

Chua, A. Y. K., & Banerjee, S. (2017). A study of tweet veracity to separate rumours from counter-rumours. In 8th International Conference on Social Media and Society: Social Media for Good or Evil, #SMSociety 2017 Article 3097290 (ACM International Conference Proceeding Series; Vol. Part F129683). Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/3097286.3097290

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title = "A study of tweet veracity to separate rumours from counter-rumours",

abstract = "Rumours are known to propagate easily through computermediated communication channels such as Twitter. Their outbreak is often followed by the spread of 'counter-rumours', which are messages that debunk rumours. The probability of a tweet to be a counter-rumour is referred to as 'tweet veracity' in this paper. Since both rumours and counter-rumours are expected to contain claims of truth, the two might not be easily distinguishable. If Internet users fail to separate rumours from counter-rumours, the latter will not serve its purpose. Hence, this paper investigates the extent to which tweet veracity could be predicted by content as well as contributors' profile. The investigation focuses on the death hoax case of Singapore's first Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew on Twitter. A total of 1,000 tweets (500 rumours + 500 counter-rumours) are analyzed using binomial logistic regression. Results indicate that tweet veracity could be predicted by clarity, proper nouns, visual cues, references to credible sources, as well as contributors' duration of membership, and number of followers. The significance of these findings are highlighted.",

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Chua, AYK & Banerjee, S 2017, A study of tweet veracity to separate rumours from counter-rumours. in 8th International Conference on Social Media and Society: Social Media for Good or Evil, #SMSociety 2017., 3097290, ACM International Conference Proceeding Series, vol. Part F129683, Association for Computing Machinery, 8th International International Conference on Social Media and Society, #SMSociety 2017, Toronto, Canada, 7/28/17. https://doi.org/10.1145/3097286.3097290

A study of tweet veracity to separate rumours from counter-rumours. / Chua, Alton Y.K.; Banerjee, Snehasish.
8th International Conference on Social Media and Society: Social Media for Good or Evil, #SMSociety 2017. Association for Computing Machinery, 2017. 3097290 (ACM International Conference Proceeding Series; Vol. Part F129683).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

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A study of tweet veracity to separate rumours from counter-rumours

Abstract

Publication series

Conference

Bibliographical note

ASJC Scopus Subject Areas

Keywords

Access to Document

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