Close
  • Latest News
  • Cybersecurity
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Mobile
  • Networking
  • Storage
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Menu
eWEEK.com
Search
eWEEK.com
  • Latest News
  • Cybersecurity
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Mobile
  • Networking
  • Storage
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home Cybersecurity
    • Cybersecurity

    Fake-News Services Make Propaganda Distribution Point-and-Click

    By
    ROBERT LEMOS
    -
    June 14, 2017
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin
      Social Thumbs Down

      Cloud services that allow anyone to propagate fake news or propaganda, to gain a following for provocative posts and to harness crowds of willing humans to pass on phony content to more credulous people have multiplied over the past year, security firm Trend Micro stated in an 81-page analysis published on June 13.

      The report, The Fake News Machine: How Propagandists Abuse the Internet and Manipulate the Public, found that fake news services could be easily used to create a celebrity profile, incite a street protest or discredit a journalist.

      In many ways the services are similar to black-hat search engine optimization (SEO) services, or even legitimate marketing services, use many of the same techniques. But fake news services add anonymity and networks of fake users to click on content and thumbs-up posts.

      “All of these services are designed to get a snowball rolling, and once it does, it starts to take a life of its own,” Mark Nunnikhoven, vice president of cloud research at Trend Micro, told eWEEK.

      The rise of fake news was a major force in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. The three months before the election, for example, the top-20 fake news stories were more popular than the top-20 legitimate news stories, according to a Nov. 2016 Buzzfeed analysis. The Trend Micro report documents several different fake-news schemes and the pricing for different services.

      Trend Micro used a broad definition of fake news that focuses more on the mechanism and intent of spreading a particular piece of information than the veracity of that information.

      “Fake news is the promotion and propagation of news articles via social media,” the company stated in the report. “These articles are promoted in such a way that they appear to be spread by other users, as opposed to being paid-for advertising. The news stories distributed are designed to influence or manipulate users’ opinions on a certain topic towards certain objectives.”

      The delivery of fake news requires motivation, the use of social networks and an ecosystem of tools and services, the company stated.

      Different regions have different markets for fake news. Chinese fake-news distributors, for example, mainly focus on the local market with prices ranging from approximately $75 to $200.

      Russia’s fake news networks harness crowdsourcing platforms that rewards users who click and upvote content in exchange for points. For $266 (or 15,000 RUB), a customer can place an article in niche or dubious publication, and for less than $22,000, a customer could place an article in a reputable publication without it being marked as advertising, the report stated.

      “The whole goal of a quality fake-news service is that it should be indistinguishable from organic social media and public opinion,” Nunnikhoven said. “Some of these are outright, we will get you fake votes… And others are not as blatantly fake or false, but more like shady marketing.”

      Because few people read beyond the headline, fake news with a well-written headline can take off with minimal effort, Trend Micro added.

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Android

      Samsung Galaxy XCover Pro: Durability for Tough...

      CHRIS PREIMESBERGER - December 5, 2020 0
      Have you ever dropped your phone, winced and felt the pain as it hit the sidewalk? Either the screen splintered like a windshield being...
      Read more
      Cloud

      Why Data Security Will Face Even Harsher...

      CHRIS PREIMESBERGER - December 1, 2020 0
      Who would know more about details of the hacking process than an actual former career hacker? And who wants to understand all they can...
      Read more
      Cybersecurity

      How Veritas Is Shining a Light Into...

      EWEEK EDITORS - September 25, 2020 0
      Protecting data has always been one of the most important tasks in all of IT, yet as more companies become data companies at the...
      Read more
      Big Data and Analytics

      How NVIDIA A100 Station Brings Data Center...

      ZEUS KERRAVALA - November 18, 2020 0
      There’s little debate that graphics processor unit manufacturer NVIDIA is the de facto standard when it comes to providing silicon to power machine learning...
      Read more
      Apple

      Why iPhone 12 Pro Makes Sense for...

      WAYNE RASH - November 26, 2020 0
      If you’ve been watching the Apple commercials for the past three weeks, you already know what the company thinks will happen if you buy...
      Read more
      eWeek


      Contact Us | About | Sitemap

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      Terms of Service | Privacy Notice | Advertise | California - Do Not Sell My Info

      © 2020 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×