@inproceedings{4d16907ee16e4612a74a75fdc83e29af,
title = "Weaponizing Words: Analyzing Fake News Accusations Against Two Online News Channels",
abstract = "Attacks against media channels are increasing in social media. The concept of fake news has been weaponized to label and discredit content with which one does not agree. Using data collected from Facebook and YouTube, we analyze attacks against online news channels to understand the logic behind them. Based on programmatic data collection of 4,980,783 comments, we calculate the prevalence of attacks against the channels to range from 0.53% to 2.10% for the media organization owning the channels. The qualitative analysis reveals five major themes in the attacks: Political, Societal, Environmental, Economic & Industrial, and Opinionated. We find that the political theme forms the major entry point for the practice of labeling a news outlet as fake news. Users predominantly do this through the assertion that a news piece does not address the “other side” of an argument and are very vocal about their perceptions. Implications highlight how fake news labeling has the potential to become as detrimental phenomenon as the actual fabrication of content.",
keywords = "Fake news, Online news, User-generated attacks",
author = "Joni Salminen and Milica Milenkovic and Sercan {\c S}eng{\"u}n and Jung, {Soon Gyo} and Jansen, {Bernard J.}",
note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021 IEEE; 8th IEEE International Conference on Behavioural and Social Computing, BESC 2021 ; Conference date: 29-10-2021 Through 31-10-2021",
year = "2021",
doi = "10.1109/BESC53957.2021.9635377",
language = "English",
series = "Proceedings of 2021 8th IEEE International Conference on Behavioural and Social Computing, BESC 2021",
publisher = "Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.",
booktitle = "Proceedings of 2021 8th IEEE International Conference on Behavioural and Social Computing, BESC 2021",
address = "United States",
}