Skip to content
University of East London
  • Staff login
  • Student login
  • Study

    Study

    Site Navigation - Quick Links

    • Why UEL?
    • Undergraduate prospectus
    • Postgraduate prospectus
    • Sport at UEL

    Undergraduate study

    View all of our undergraduate subjects.

    Explore now
    • COURSES
      • Undergraduate
      • Postgraduate
      • Getting back into education
      • Subjects
      • May starts
      • Apprenticeships
    • STUDENT INFORMATION
      • Student life
      • Current students
      • New students
      • Accommodation
      • Term dates
      • Fees and funding
      • Scholarships
    • VISIT UEL
      • Open days and events
      • Our location
  • International

    International

    Site Navigation - Quick Links

    • Why UEL?
    • Undergraduate prospectus
    • Postgraduate prospectus
    • Sport at UEL

    Virtual Open Events

    Need support during your admission journey?

    Attend our virtual events
    • APPLYING
      • Advice for your region
      • Pre-degree courses
      • Immigration advice and compliance
      • Transferring to UEL
      • International admission deadlines
      • Pre-sessional English
      • Malvern House pathway programmes
    • STUDENT INFORMATION
      • Accommodation
      • Term dates
      • Fees and funding
      • Scholarships
    • VISIT UEL
      • Open days and events
      • Our location
      • Virtual open events
  • Your career

    Your career

    Site Navigation - Quick Links

    • Why UEL?
    • Undergraduate prospectus
    • Postgraduate prospectus
    • Sport at UEL

    Are you an employer?

    Advertise a vacancy on our platform today.

    Get started
    • STARTING YOUR CAREER
      • Career Zone
      • Explore your career
      • Career coaching and mentoring
    • GETTING A JOB
      • Meet employers
      • Be your own boss
      • Volunteering
      • Work while you study
  • Partners

    Partners

    Site Navigation - Quick Links

    • Why UEL?
    • Undergraduate prospectus
    • Postgraduate prospectus
    • Sport at UEL

    Are you an employer?

    Advertise a vacancy on our platform today.

    Get started
    • Partnerships at UEL
    • Train your workforce
    • Share your skills
    • Connect with our people
  • Our research

    Our research

    Site Navigation - Quick Links

    • Why UEL?
    • Undergraduate prospectus
    • Postgraduate prospectus
    • Sport at UEL

    REF 2021

    Read about our Research Excellence Framework submissions and results

    Impact case studies
    • Postgraduate research students
    • Research impact
    • Partnerships
    • REF 2021
  • About

    About

    Site Navigation - Quick Links

    • Why UEL?
    • Undergraduate prospectus
    • Postgraduate prospectus
    • Sport at UEL

    Connected campus

    We are improving our three campuses for people to study, work and live.

    What we're doing
    • OUR UNIVERSITY
      • Our schools and subjects
      • Staff
      • Governance
      • Professional services
      • Vision 2028
      • Alumni
      • Accreditations
      • Sustainable Development Goals
    • TEACHING AND SUPPORT
      • How we teach
      • Mental wealth
      • On-campus nursery
    • GET INVOLVED
      • Events
      • News
    • GET IN TOUCH
      • Our location
      • Contact us
  • Home
  • About UEL

Fake news spreads like disease, says UEL academic

Hero Carousel

Fake News

Online fact-checking tools are limited

See all of our News articles

Published

25 February 2020

Share

Share On Facebook
Share on Twitter
Share on LinkedIn

The spread of fake news resembles the spread of disease and having tools to verify and validate sources could potentially be the cure, according to a new book on the subject.

The newly published book, Fake News in an Era of Social Media: Tracking Viral Contagion, edited by University of East London (UEL) academic Dr Fadi Safieddine and Queen Mary academic Yasmin Ibrahim examines the rise of fake news and how we can treat it.

Social media has expanded to become a key platform for fake news which has had unpredictable and debilitating consequences. Fake news has been linked to an increase in measles cases, surges in youth crimes, the spread of pseudo-science, compromised national security, and more. Some even perceive it as a global threat to democratic systems around the world. 

"The use of social media has expanded over the last few years to become a key source of news for many users. Information shared online by many social newsgroups lacks basic verification and accountability of the source. And while there have been some attempts to combat the spread of misinformation, we are still getting grips at understanding the variables that contribute to the success at spreading so fast."

Dr Fadi Safieddine, UEL academic expert on fake news, said.

Figure 1

Figure 1

BioExpress and simulation of spread of News and Fake News

Over the past three years, Dr Fadi Safieddine and research colleagues have used the big-data simulation tool Biolayout Express to simulate and publish their findings on the variables affecting the spread of fake news.

They have found the main factor contributing to the continuing failure to combat the spread of fake news is the lack of validation tools.

During their simulations, the team were able to demonstrate that having 30 per cent of users check if a post is fake can help stop the spread of fake news to its source. However, and keeping all variables the same, having an influencer with over 1,000 dedicated followers can make controlling spread a lot harder.

The simulation under these circumstances shows 54 per cent of users are needed to be able to validate and check a post to stop it propagating. As such, the team concluded that the only way to stop the spread of fake news has to be in the form of an online tool that allows users to perform a validation check on an article.

"Recently, Google and Facebook have made attempts to develop fact-checking tools that rely on third-party fact-checkers with limited success," Dr Safieddine explains.

He added: "However, the ability to combat the spread of fake news remains limited and hampered by the slow response of third-party fact-checkers.

 

Figure 2

Figure 2

Facebook’s three steps in flagging fake news with use of third-party checkers.

Assessment of tools based on 3D simulates and Information Quality (IQ) assessment show some reduction in the spread of fake news and an improved IQ, but the ability to combat the spread remains limited and hampered by the slow response of third-party fact-checkers.

The simulations also show that a semi-automated approach to fact-finding, dubbed 'right-click authenticate', that allows the user to get a faster indication of the validity of the information remains the most efficient and effective option, see figure 3.

Figure 3

Figure 3

The “Right-Click-Authenticate” approach to stopping fake news propagation.

For more on Dr Safieddine and his team's research on Fake News, please visit his research website at Authenticate.info.

Share

Share On Facebook
Share on Twitter
Share on LinkedIn

Communications team

Contact us for press and interview requests

 

+44 (0)20 8223 2911
pressoffice@uel.ac.uk

Help us make this site better by telling us what you think about this page

Social Media

Follow us on social media:

Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Youtube Instagram TikTok

University of East London

University Way

London, E16 2RD

United Kingdom



T. +44 20 8223 3000


Explore UEL

  • About UEL
  • Take a virtual tour
  • Calendars
  • Freedom of information
  • Governance management
  • Services and departments
  • Find us
  • Contact us

The University

  • Undergraduate
  • Postgraduate
  • News
  • Events
  • Jobs

University of East London

University Way

London, E16 2RD

United Kingdom



T. +44 20 8223 3000


Copyright ©2023 University of East London

  • Accessibility
  • Data protection
  • Sitemap
  • AccessAble
  • Modern slavery
  • Legal and compliance
  • Cookie settings
  • Privacy