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FALSE CONNECTION

The most common example of this type of content is clickbait headlines. With the increased competition for
audience attention, editors increasingly have to write headlines to attract clicks, even if when people read the
article they feel that they have been deceived.

FALSE CONTENT

One of the reasons the term ‘fake news’ is so unhelpful, is because genuine content is often seen being re-
circulated out of its original context. On social media, misinformers often post real news articles out of context
or with new, false context during breaking news or political events. These posts take virtually no effort to create
but easily amass thousands of likes, shares and comments. And they spread false, potentially dangerous
information about real news content.

Example:

That phenomenon was front and center last week following the fire at the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris.
Fact-checkers across Europe debunked several out-of-context news articles following the fire, which produced
a torrent of hoaxes on social media. Spanish fact-checking site Maldito Bulo wrote about how people were
sharing an El Mundo story about four people being detained near Notre Dame. That story is factual — but it
occurred in 2016. And social media users were sharing it as if it had happened in the aftermath of the Notre
Dame fire.

MANIPULATED CONTENT

Manipulated content is when genuine content is manipulated to deceive. Manipulations

can be made through simple technology like Photoshop or through sophisticated tools
that use artificial intelligence or “deep learning” techniques to create videos that distort
reality – usually called “deepfakes.”
Example:

Top 10 Deepfake

SATIRE OR PARODY

Many of the deliberately false or fake news stories we see in social media feeds begin on websites that attempt
to parody real news — imagine a humor website, but without the name recognition (or often the comedic
writing talent). It can be difficult to parse what the aims of these parody sites may be. They could be writing
stories purely for entertainment, or they may be trolling a particular set of voters. These websites may or may
not make it clear on individual links that their stories are fake, but will almost always say in a disclaimer
somewhere on their site that their content is exaggerated or fictional.

MISLEADING CONTENT

Research has found that traditionally reporting on misleading content can potentially
cause more harm. Our brains are wired to rely on heuristics, or mental shortcuts, to help
us judge credibility. As a result, repetition and familiarity are two of the most effective
mechanisms for ingraining misleading narratives, even when viewers have received
contextual information explaining why they should know a narrative is not true.

IMPOSTER CONTENT/SITE

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Adding to the fog of fake news online, several websites appear to try to confuse readers into thinking they are
the online outlets of traditional or mainstream media sources. These sites attempt to trick readers into thinking
they are newspapers or radio or television stations. Like many other fake news sites, it’s very difficult to see
who owns them, thanks to private registrations. We did see that some sites were based in far-flung global
locations like Macedonia and Chile. But most imposters we’ve found so far have set up shop anonymously
through domain services like GoDaddy.com. One such site, CNNews3.com, not only used a web address
similar to CNN, but its graphics also deliberately looked almost the same.

Example: The website CNNews3.com ran this fake story about children being infected with HIV by
tainted bananas.

FABRICATED CONTENT

This type of content can be text format, such as the completely fabricated ‘news sites’.

Types of Fake News (7. Fabricated Content) - The Era of Fake News (Capstone
Title)

PROPAGANDA

The term propaganda is not synonymous with disinformation, although disinformation can serve the interests of
propaganda. But propaganda is usually more overtly manipulative than disinformation, typically because it
traffics in emotional rather than informational messaging.

SPONSORED CONTENT

Sponsored content is a versatile and powerful tool for brands to take advantage of. When it’s effective,
sponsored content is a game-changer.

Example:

UEFA Champions League & Heineken (Instagram story). This sponsored Instagram story features the
return of the UEFA Champions League partnered with Heineken. Heineken took advantage of the UEFA
Champions League return with this sponsored Instagram story. The ability to target users who follow European
football (like me, up the reds from Liverpool!) presents an opportunity to promote Heineken as the go-to
beverage for UCL viewing. The sponsored story isn’t a pop-up or an invasive ad. The content only appears in
between other Instagram stories that a user launches themselves. This way the sponsored content appears
naturally in the feed, and doesn’t interfere with using the app!

ERROR

Disinformation and misinformation are both different to (quality) journalism which complies with professional
standards and ethics. At the same time they are also different to cases of weak journalism that falls short of its
own promise. Problematic journalism includes, for example, ongoing (and uncorrected) errors that arise from
poor research or sloppy verification. It includes sensationalising that exaggerates for effect, and hyper-partisan
selection of facts at the expense of fairness.

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 Security threats in the digital era
Cyber interference in elections
This is the most direct way to corrupt liberal democracies through the manipulation of
electoral systems and the alteration of voting results.

Hacking of critical infrastructure

This is a more sophisticated type of cyber-attacks, using malware to shut down or blow
up a country’s critical infrastructure, such as energy and communication networks,
water supplies, or even traffic light systems in major cities. A country’s military could
also be susceptible to this kind of cyber-attacks.

Dissemination of fake news

This is most usually possible through the extensive use of social media, where it has
been observed that fake news travels further and faster than real news, thus being more
profitable.

Distributed denial-of-service (DDOS) attacks

This type of cyber-attacks aims at blocking users’ access to any online and digitally
based services.

Manipulation of false actors and creation of AstroTurf groups

Artificial actors are often used to create chaos, social conflict, and disrupt the political
process. This requires the creation of numerous fake social media profiles, which appear
to be authentic and their continuous coordination into fake grass roots groups.

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

To generate deep fake news and videos: AI offers the possibility to create and
disseminate deep fake news and videos, which are extremely difficult to identify the
manipulated files from the authentic ones. Deep fakes can be particular effective in
damaging the political reputation of candidates, so as to manipulate electoral campaigns
without the need to hack electoral systems.

Main characteristics of cyber security threats

 They transcend geography and physical distance between the source and the target.
Contrary to most other security threats, where distance from the threat is a source of
security, cyber threats have no boundaries, thus everyone is equally vulnerable to
attack.

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 Liberal democracies are far more vulnerable to asymmetric attacks from autocratic
states tan before. In fact only liberal democracies are fundamentally vulnerable to cyber
attacks and manipulation of electoral process, as authoritarian states tend to manipulate
electoral processes anyway.