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Online Bots Are Spreading Fake News. Now Researchers Are Fighting Them With Bots Of Their Own.

Hamza Butt/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

From Texas Standard:

Researchers at the University of Texas at Arlington are taking on the fake news of the world.

The project, aptly named “Bot versus Bot: Automated Detection of Fake News Bots,” will develop tools to detect online social bots that create and spread fake news.

 

The false news-combatting algorithms will focus on Twitter, where bot accounts run by computer programs can seem deceptively real. The accounts automatically post content, follow other Twitter users and leave comments.

The project is funded through the Texas National Security Network Excellence and led by Chengkai Li, an associate professor in UTA’s Department of Computer Science and Engineering.

Mark Tremayne, an assistant professor of communication and collaborator on the project, explains how fake news stories can be evaluated by the social networks they spread through.

 

Written by Rachel Rascoe.

Rhonda joined KUT in late 2013 as producer for the station's new daily news program, Texas Standard. Rhonda will forever be known as the answer to the trivia question, “Who was the first full-time hire for The Texas Standard?” She’s an Iowa native who got her start in public radio at WFSU in Tallahassee, while getting her Master's Degree in Library Science at Florida State University. Prior to joining KUT and The Texas Standard, Rhonda was a producer for Wisconsin Public Radio.
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