Truth decayThe rise of online disinformation
Last week the European Commission took steps to tackle the spread and impact of online disinformation in Europe and ensure the protection of European values and democracies. A new study by the Joint Research Center (JRC) of the European Commission, which examined the digital transformation of news media and the rise of disinformation. Among other things, the study finds that true news audiences dwarf false news audiences, though fake news travels faster and further on social media sites, also across echo chambers, and may capture consumer attention longer than true news.
On 26 April 2018 the European Commission took steps to tackle the spread and impact of online disinformation in Europe and ensure the protection of European values and democracies.
The Commission proposed an EU-wide Code of Practice on Disinformation, support to an independent network of fact-checkers, and concrete tools to stimulate quality journalism.
The study by the Joint Research Center (JRC) of the European Commission, which examined the digital transformation of news media and the rise of disinformation, contributed to defining the tools for tackling disinformation online. The report contains an overview of the relevant economic research literature on the digital transformation of news markets and related impact on the quality of news.
Algorithm-driven platforms shape the news landscape
The report points out that two-thirds of online news consumers prefer to access it through algorithm-driven platforms such as search engines and news aggregators, and social media websites.
It also states that market power and revenue streams shifted from news publishers to platform operators who have the data to match readers, articles and ads.
The quality concerns in news are a result of not so much the shift from offline to online distribution, but rather the shift from direct access to newspapers to indirect algorithm-driven distribution of news. This is characterized by the mix of genuine edited news articles, user generated content and deliberately produced disinformation.
True news dwarf false news
Europa says that despite the much wider availability and accessibility of online news, user trust in news media, especially in online sources of news, is low and differs considerably by age, education and country. Traditional print and broadcasted news remain the most trusted sources.
