How April Fools hoax stories can help spot fake news
PTI|
Beating fake news
Researchers from Lancaster University in the UK compiled a dataset of more than 500 April Fools articles sourced from more than 370 websites and written over 14 years.
AFP
How not to fall for it
"April Fools hoaxes are very useful because they provide us with a verifiable body of deceptive texts that give us an opportunity to find out about the linguistic techniques used when an author writes something fictitious disguised as a factual account," said Edward Dearden from Lancaster University.
"By looking at the language used in April Fools and comparing them with fake news stories we can get a better picture of the kinds of language used by authors of disinformation," said Dearden.
AFP
It's all in the pattern
Researchers focused on specific features within the texts, such as the amount of details used, vagueness, formality of writing style and complexity of language.
They then compared the April Fools stories with a 'fake news' dataset, and found a number of similar characteristics.
Such articles tend to contain less complex language, an easier reading difficulty, and longer sentences than genuine news.
AFP
Identifying fake news
First person pronouns, such as 'we', are also a prominent feature for both April Fools and fake news, researchers said.
The team also created a machine learning 'classifier' to identify if articles are April Fools hoaxes, fake news or genuine news stories.
The classifier achieved a 75 per cent accuracy at identifying April Fools articles and 72 per cent for identifying fake news stories.
AFP
Almost foolproof
"Looking at details and complexities within a text are crucial when trying to determine if an article is a hoax," said Alistair Baron, from Lancaster University.
"Although there are many differences, our results suggest that April Fools and fake news articles share some similar features, mostly involving structural complexity," Baron said.
"Our findings suggest that there are certain features in common between different forms of disinformation and exploring these similarities may provide important insights for future research into deceptive news stories," he said.
AP
