The geography of corporate fake news.
Although a rich academic literature examines the use of fake news by foreign actors for political manipulation, there is limited research on potential foreign intervention in capital markets. To address this gap, we construct a comprehensive database of (negative) fake news regarding U.S. firms by s...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2024-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0301364&type=printable |
| _version_ | 1797194854957056000 |
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| author | Alper Darendeli Aixin Sun Wee Peng Tay |
| author_facet | Alper Darendeli Aixin Sun Wee Peng Tay |
| author_sort | Alper Darendeli |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Although a rich academic literature examines the use of fake news by foreign actors for political manipulation, there is limited research on potential foreign intervention in capital markets. To address this gap, we construct a comprehensive database of (negative) fake news regarding U.S. firms by scraping prominent fact-checking sites. We identify the accounts that spread the news on Twitter (now X) and use machine-learning techniques to infer the geographic locations of these fake news spreaders. Our analysis reveals that corporate fake news is more likely than corporate non-fake news to be spread by foreign accounts. At the country level, corporate fake news is more likely to originate from African and Middle Eastern countries and tends to increase during periods of high geopolitical tension. At the firm level, firms operating in uncertain information environments and strategic industries are more likely to be targeted by foreign accounts. Overall, our findings provide initial evidence of foreign-originating misinformation in capital markets and thus have important policy implications. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-24T06:02:54Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-36f6ad0fbca845c791e681be063de93a |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-24T06:02:54Z |
| publishDate | 2024-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-36f6ad0fbca845c791e681be063de93a2024-04-23T05:32:02ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032024-01-01194e030136410.1371/journal.pone.0301364The geography of corporate fake news.Alper DarendeliAixin SunWee Peng TayAlthough a rich academic literature examines the use of fake news by foreign actors for political manipulation, there is limited research on potential foreign intervention in capital markets. To address this gap, we construct a comprehensive database of (negative) fake news regarding U.S. firms by scraping prominent fact-checking sites. We identify the accounts that spread the news on Twitter (now X) and use machine-learning techniques to infer the geographic locations of these fake news spreaders. Our analysis reveals that corporate fake news is more likely than corporate non-fake news to be spread by foreign accounts. At the country level, corporate fake news is more likely to originate from African and Middle Eastern countries and tends to increase during periods of high geopolitical tension. At the firm level, firms operating in uncertain information environments and strategic industries are more likely to be targeted by foreign accounts. Overall, our findings provide initial evidence of foreign-originating misinformation in capital markets and thus have important policy implications.https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0301364&type=printable |
| spellingShingle | Alper Darendeli Aixin Sun Wee Peng Tay The geography of corporate fake news. PLoS ONE |
| title | The geography of corporate fake news. |
| title_full | The geography of corporate fake news. |
| title_fullStr | The geography of corporate fake news. |
| title_full_unstemmed | The geography of corporate fake news. |
| title_short | The geography of corporate fake news. |
| title_sort | geography of corporate fake news |
| url | https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0301364&type=printable |
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