Takis Metaxas is a Professor of Computer Science at Wellesley College, studying online social media, primarily related to the propagation of information and misinformation, prediction of political events, and in developing tools that help users evaluate the trustworthiness of information. In particular, with his Wellesley colleagues and students, he has been studying the problem of propaganda and online misinformation since 2002.
“Fake news” is a generic term to indicate lies and propaganda presented as news. It is not a new phenomenon. Instead, its novelty lies in the omnipresence of online search and social media technologies. Its potential is in compromising the foundations of Democracy. But how severe is the challenge it presents and what can we learn from the past dozen years of online manipulation during the US elections?
Watch Dr. Metaxas’ talk:
The speaker series on fake news and misinformation is co-sponsored by the NULab at Northeastern University.
