Images and Misinformation in Political Groups: Evidence from WhatsApp in India

• URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/2005.09784v1
• Date: Tue, 19 May 2020 23:00:17 GMT
• Title: Images and Misinformation in Political Groups: Evidence from WhatsApp in India
• Authors: Kiran Garimella, Dean Eckles
• Abstract summary: We study a large collection of politically-oriented WhatsApp groups in India, focusing on the period leading up to the 2019 Indian national elections. By labeling samples of random and popular images, we find that around 13% of shared images are known misinformation. Machine learning methods can be used to predict whether a viral image is misinformation, but are brittle to shifts in content over time.
• Score: 6.421670116083633
• License: http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/
• Abstract: WhatsApp is a key medium for the spread of news and rumors, often shared as images. We study a large collection of politically-oriented WhatsApp groups in India, focusing on the period leading up to the 2019 Indian national elections. By labeling samples of random and popular images, we find that around 13% of shared images are known misinformation and most fall into three types of images. Machine learning methods can be used to predict whether a viral image is misinformation, but are brittle to shifts in content over time.

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