#ArsonEmergency and Australia's "Black Summer": Polarisation and misinformation on social media
Files
(Accepted version)
Date
2020
Authors
Weber, D.
Nasim, M.
Falzon, L.
Mitchell, L.
Editors
Duijn, M.J.V.
Preuss, M.
Spaiser, V.
Takes, F.W.
Verberne, S.
Preuss, M.
Spaiser, V.
Takes, F.W.
Verberne, S.
Advisors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Type:
Conference paper
Citation
Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence, 2020 / Duijn, M.J.V., Preuss, M., Spaiser, V., Takes, F.W., Verberne, S. (ed./s), vol.12259, pp.159-173
Statement of Responsibility
Derek Weber, Mehwish Nasim, Lucia Falzon, and Lewis Mitchell
Conference Name
Multidisciplinary International Symposium on Disinformation in Open Online Media (MISDOOM) (26 Oct 2020 - 27 Oct 2020 : virtual online)
Abstract
During the summer of 2019-20, while Australia suffered unprecedented bushfires across the country, false narratives regarding arson and limited backburning spread quickly on Twitter, particularly using the hashtag #ArsonEmergency. Misinformation and bot- and troll-like behaviour were detected and reported by social media researchers and the news soon reached mainstream media. This paper examines the communication and behaviour of two polarised online communities before and after news of the misinformation became public knowledge. Specifically, the Supporter community actively engaged with others to spread the hashtag, using a variety of news sources pushing the arson narrative,while the Opposer community engaged less, retweeted more, and focused its use of URLs to link to mainstream sources, debunking the narratives and exposing the anomalous behaviour. This influenced the content of the broader discussion. Bot analysis revealed the active accounts were predominantly human, but behavioural and content analysis suggests Supporters engaged in trolling, though both communities used aggressive language.
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Dissertation Note
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© Commonwealth of Australia 2020