French election: Fake news spreads ahead of presidential pollSo called 'Twitter bots' that masquerade as real people and spread fake news and propaganda on social media have been detected in action in France in the lead-up to this weekend's presidential election. However, French voters are sharing much better quality information online than what many US voters shared in last year's presidential election, according to an analysis released on Saturday by a group of experts from Oxford University. From left: Emmanuel Macron, Jean-Luc Melenchon, Benoit Hamon, Marine Le Pen and Francois Fillon. BENOIT TESSIER/REUTERS One fake news post invented a Figaro poll showing Marine Le Pen had 'won' a TV debate,In this 'other' category there was a fraction of content from Russian sources, the analysis found. Bradshaw said their research put the lie to claims in France that fake news was "running rampant" in the campaign.

Source: Stuff April 22, 2017 01:30 UTC