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The relationships between misinformation and outrage trolling tactics on two Yahoo! Answers categories

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  • Pnina Fichman
  • Matthew Vaughn

Abstract

As the prevalence of online misinformation grows increasingly apparent, our need to understand its spread becomes more essential. Trolling, in particular, may aggravate the spread of misinformation online. While many studies have investigated the negative impact of trolling and misinformation on social media, less attention has been devoted to the relationships between the two and their manifestation on social question and answer (SQA) sites. We examine the extent of and relationships between trolling and misinformation on SQA sites. Through content analysis of 8,401 posts (159 questions and 8,242 answers) from the Yahoo Answers! Politics & Government and Society & Culture categories, we identified levels of and relationships between misinformation and trolling. We find that trolling and misinformation tend to reinforce themselves and each other and that trolling and misinformation are more common in the Politics & Government category than in the Society & Culture category. Our study is among the first to consider the prevalence of and relationship between misinformation and trolling on SQA sites.

Suggested Citation

  • Pnina Fichman & Matthew Vaughn, 2021. "The relationships between misinformation and outrage trolling tactics on two Yahoo! Answers categories," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 72(12), pages 1498-1510, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jinfst:v:72:y:2021:i:12:p:1498-1510
    DOI: 10.1002/asi.24497
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    1. Fabiana Zollo & Petra Kralj Novak & Michela Del Vicario & Alessandro Bessi & Igor Mozetič & Antonio Scala & Guido Caldarelli & Walter Quattrociocchi, 2015. "Emotional Dynamics in the Age of Misinformation," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(9), pages 1-22, September.
    2. Alessandro Bessi & Mauro Coletto & George Alexandru Davidescu & Antonio Scala & Guido Caldarelli & Walter Quattrociocchi, 2015. "Science vs Conspiracy: Collective Narratives in the Age of Misinformation," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(2), pages 1-17, February.
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    4. Sara Owsley Sood & Elizabeth F. Churchill & Judd Antin, 2012. "Automatic identification of personal insults on social news sites," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 63(2), pages 270-285, February.
    5. Madelyn Sanfilippo & Shengnan Yang & Pnina Fichman, 2017. "Trolling here, there, and everywhere: Perceptions of trolling behaviors in context," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 68(10), pages 2313-2327, October.
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    1. Pnina Fichman & Maanvi Rathi, 2023. "Trolling CNN and Fox News on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 74(5), pages 493-505, May.

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