Reuters has created a tool that will automatically verify or detect a breaking news' credibility on Twitter. This algorithm, dubbed the Reuters News Tracer, was developed over the past two years in an attempt
In interviews with the Columbia Journalism Review and Nieman Lab, Reuters revealed that the News Tracer has the capability of analyzing tweets in real-time and will filter out spam. The tool will group similar words into clusters to easily clean up fake news on the social media site.
The Reuters News Tracer Will Rate Clustered Words' Credibility
Reuters News Tracer's algorithm will assign a credibility score to each factor according to several factors, which include the identity and location of the person tweeting, how the tweet widens its reach and whether the tweet is being confirmed or discredited on Twitter.
"We wanted to figure out how to build systems that would give us an edge on tracking this stuff at speed and at scale," Reuters' executive editor Reg Chua said. The Reuters News Tracer is an effort that aims to stop the spread of fake news, which are rampant not only in Twitter, but other social media sites as well.
Reuters News Tracer: Fake News Should Be Stopped Once And For All
2016 has been a year full of mishaps, one of which is the spread of fake news on the web. In fact, a series of bogus news might have titled the recent US elections, reports GamenGuide. This has prompted several newsrooms to explore effective forms of automation, like the Associated Press' Automatic Insights. Moreover, France's Le Monde is also developing a browser extension that will flag fake news. The Reuters News Tracer is yet another significant move to discontinue the prevalent misleading news trend that unfortunately the Internet is still caught into.
Reuters only made the News Tracer public this week. Hopefully, other newsrooms will follow suit.
