It’s True: False News Spreads Faster and Wider. And Humans Are to Blame. - The New York Times

Let's hope we don't similarly bias neural networks... Also see The Grim Conclusions of the Largest-Ever Study of Fake News (The Atlantic), which concludes: "In short, social media seems to systematically amplify falsehood at the expense of the truth, and no one—neither experts nor politicians nor tech companies—knows how to reverse that trend. It is a dangerous moment for any system of government premised on a common public reality."

"What if the scourge of false news on the internet is not the result of Russian operatives or partisan zealots or computer-controlled bots? What if the main problem is us?

People are the principal culprits, according to a new study examining the flow of stories on Twitter. And people, the study’s authors also say, prefer false news.

As a result, false news travels faster, farther and deeper through the social network than true news."

It’s True: False News Spreads Faster and Wider. And Humans Are to Blame. - The New York Times