Find evidence, practical ideas and fresh insight for greater impact

Digital false information at scale in the European Union: Current state of research in various disciplines, and future directions

Based on:

Journal Article (2022)

Open access

 The aim was to find out what we know about false information on digital platforms in the EU, and to focus on large scale research that is aimed at identifying overall patterns.

Brief by:
Doctoral Researcher / Research Assistant | Aarhus University
Research collaborators:
Jessica Gabriele Walter, Anja Bechmann
PrintShare
Cite page
de Place Bak, Petra. 'Digital false information at scale in the European Union: Current state of research in various disciplines, and future directions'. Acume. https://www.acume.org/r/digital-false-information-at-scale-in-the-european-union-current-state-of-research-in-various-disciplines-and-future-directions/
Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

The purpose of this paper was to create an overview of what is known about false information on digital media in the EU. As of now, research on false information remain mostly focused on the US and UK, because large scale data sets are available and tools for computational analysis are mostly trained in English. This is two reasons why there is a bias toward English datasets. Thus, we wanted to find out which regions were covered in the EU, by which fields, and also try to point future research in the direction of countries that we know very little about.

 

Key findings

  • Most research is conducted on the US by default and we could benefit from a stronger focus on the EU, as studies indicate that there are regional differences in the characteristics of false information: for example, how susceptible are citizens to false information, what are the main topics of false information, and is it politically driven?Despite our focus on the EU in the keyword selection for the literature search, the UK and the US remained in the top three most studied countries.Another interesting finding: Italy is the most studied European country, which might be due to a focus on Italy during the Covid pandemic. Predictably, Twitter is the most studied platform because it is the easiest to collect data from.We conducted a systematic literature review. This means that we formulated relevance criteria, such as keywords related to misinformation (e.g., disinformation, conspiracy, fake news), timeframe, and countries. Afterwards, we chose a search engine and filtered the results, which gave us a sample of 93 papers. This sample of academic publications included in the review consisted of journal articles, proceedings from computer science, and a few book chapters.

Comments

You must log in to ask a question
 

Acknowledgements

Special thanks to Carmen Gabriela Lupu for preparation assistance

We would like to extend a special thank you to Carmen Gabriela Lupu, for their invaluable contribution in assisting the preparation of this research summary.

Are you a researcher looking to make a real-world impact? Join Acume and transform your research into a practical summary.

Already have an account? Log in
Share

Digital false information at scale in the European Union: Current state of research in various disciplines, and future directions

Cite this brief: de Place Bak, Petra. 'Digital false information at scale in the European Union: Current state of research in various disciplines, and future directions'. Acume. https://www.acume.org/r/digital-false-information-at-scale-in-the-european-union-current-state-of-research-in-various-disciplines-and-future-directions/

Brief created by: Petra de Place Bak | Year brief made: 2023

Original research:

  • J. G. W., de Place Bak, P., & A. B., ‘Digital false information at scale in the European Union: Current state of research in various disciplines, and future directions’ https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/14614448221122146. – https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/14614448221122146

Research brief:

The aim was to find out what we know about false information on digital platforms in the EU, and to focus on large scale research that is aimed at identifying overall patterns.

The purpose of this paper was to create an overview of what is known about false information on digital media in the EU. As of now, research on false information remain mostly focused on the US and UK, because large scale data sets are available and tools for computational analysis are mostly trained in English. This is two reasons why there is a bias toward English datasets. Thus, we wanted to find out which regions were covered in the EU, by which fields, and also try to point future research in the direction of countries that we know very little about.

Findings:

Most research is conducted on the US by default and we could benefit from a stronger focus on the EU, as studies indicate that there are regional differences in the characteristics of false information: for example, how susceptible are citizens to false information, what are the main topics of false information, and is it politically driven?

Despite our focus on the EU in the keyword selection for the literature search, the UK and the US remained in the top three most studied countries.

Another interesting finding: Italy is the most studied European country, which might be due to a focus on Italy during the Covid pandemic. Predictably, Twitter is the most studied platform because it is the easiest to collect data from.

We conducted a systematic literature review. This means that we formulated relevance criteria, such as keywords related to misinformation (e.g., disinformation, conspiracy, fake news), timeframe, and countries. Afterwards, we chose a search engine and filtered the results, which gave us a sample of 93 papers. This sample of academic publications included in the review consisted of journal articles, proceedings from computer science, and a few book chapters.

14098
|
2022

"Digital false information at scale in the European Union: Current state of research in various disciplines, and future directions"

Cite paper

J. G. W., de Place Bak, P., & A. B., ‘Digital false information at scale in the European Union: Current state of research in various disciplines, and future directions’ https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/14614448221122146.

Published in SAGE Open.
Peer Reviewed

🔗 Find full paper (Open access)
Methodology
This is a qualitative research.

The methodology used was systematic review of academic literature.



Funding

European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO)

Your research brief is live

It’s now visible on your profile and searchable by practitioners. Thank you for making your work accessible to decision-makers who need it

Close

Your research brief was updated

Changes are live now. 

Close

Your account is pending verification

We’ve been notified and will review it shortly. Once verified, it will be published and visible to practitioners.

We have this email on file: . If this isn’t your work email, update it to speed things up.

Update email

Your draft has been saved

Your draft has been saved. You can return to edit and publish it anytime from your dashboard.

Close

Thank you for subscribing!

We’d love to know who we will be talking to, could you take a moment to share a few more details?

Thanks for signing up!
If you haven’t already, create a free account to access expert insights and be part of a global effort to improve real-world decisions.

Get started

Close

For researchers

Turn your paper into a practical brief practitioners will read.

Sign up freeLearn more

For professionals

Explore free briefs, and book a call for deeper insights when you need them.

Talk with the teamLearn more