Trending For Truth – University researchers call bullshit on Twitter rumours

Thinking of starting a rumour? Sheffield researchers are onto your trolling


Researchers at Sheffield University have begun a project to assess the validity of rumours on social media.

Pheme, named after the goddess of fame, is funded by the EU and will take place over three years.

Computer boffins at Sheffield can now tell if you’re telling porkies online

The project is part of a collaboration with 5 other universities across the EU: Warwick, King’s, Saarland in Germany and MODUL University Vienna are all involved as well as four companies in Spain, Kenya, Bulgaria and Switzerland.

Arising out of the rumour that animals from London Zoo were released during UK riots in 2011, and the use of social media surrounding vote-rigging in the 2013 Kenyan presidential elections, the system will help to verify online rumours in real time and will be the first of its kind.

Professor Rob Procter from University of Warwick worked with the London School of Economics and the interactive team from The Guardian to manually analyse the rumours which were spread during the August riots, but with the new system these rumours can be analysed immediately.

By looking at the sources of rumours and keeping track of conversations the system will be able to detect what is legit and what isn’t.

Info will be displayed on a visual dashboard where a person can assess if a rumour is starting to take place.  As well as analysing rumours on social media the system will be able to see if any Twitter accounts have been created just to spread rumours.

Crazy twitter rumours like this may soon be a thing of the past

Dr Kalina Bontcheba from the Department of Computer Science in the Faculty of Engineering at Sheffield University says that, as well as starting rumours, social media like Twitter and Facebook “also provide useful information – the problem is that it all happens so fast and we can’t quickly sort truth from lies”

By using the system you would be able to separate online rumours into four different categories: speculation, controversy, misinformation and disinformation.

Screen Shot 2014-02-26 at 17.58.47 News from social media such as Twitter and Facebook could be put under the lie detector

During the three years of the project it will be tested for digital journalism and healthcare. For digital journalism it will be tested using the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation; and for healthcare it will be tested by the Institute of Psychiatry at King’s College London where they will look at the online discussions for a new recreational drug and find out these would feature in a patient’s medical records.

You can even follow the Pheme project on Twitter, @PhemeEU, just don’t try starting any rumours online soon.