Product Overview of Hoaxy
Introduction
Hoaxy, developed by the Observatory on Social Media at Indiana University’s Center for Complex Networks and Systems Research, is a powerful web-based tool designed to visualize and analyze the spread of information, particularly misinformation and disinformation, on social media platforms. Initially launched in 2016, Hoaxy has undergone significant updates, including the release of Hoaxy2, to enhance its capabilities.
What Hoaxy Does
Hoaxy is intended to provide a comprehensive understanding of how unverified news stories and their fact-checks propagate through social networks. It does not make editorial judgments on the legitimacy of the content but instead offers a neutral platform to track and visualize the dissemination of information. This approach helps in identifying the mechanisms behind the spread of fake news, which is crucial for developing effective countermeasures.
Key Features and Functionality
Search and Visualization
Users can search for specific keywords, URLs, or users on platforms such as Bluesky and X (Twitter). Hoaxy generates visualizations that illustrate how information spreads, including:
- Diffusion Networks: These networks display how posts are shared between accounts, helping to identify influencers, clusters, and potential disinformation networks. Each node in the network represents an account, and connections indicate the type of post (reposts, replies, quotes, or mentions).
- Temporal Trends: These plots show the cumulative number of shares over time, providing insights into the temporal aspects of information dissemination.
Platform Compatibility
Hoaxy supports searches on both Bluesky and X (Twitter). For X/Twitter searches, users need a Bearer Token available through a Basic, Pro, or Premium subscription. Bluesky searches and importing personal data are available for free.
Interaction with Visualizations
Users can interact with the visualizations by zooming in, clicking for detailed information, and analyzing the connections between different users. The color of connections indicates the type of post, and larger nodes represent more influential accounts.
Fact-Checking Integration
Hoaxy provides links to fact-checking articles from reputable sources such as Snopes, PolitiFact, and FactCheck.org. This allows users to evaluate the evidence and rebuttals associated with a claim, enhancing the verification process.
Data Collection
Hoaxy collects URLs through two processes: monitoring tweets matching specific domains and fetching new articles from news sites via RSS feeds or direct crawling. It then fetches the HTML of the collected URLs and parses the article text using third-party API services.
Bot Detection (Historical)
Although the current version of Hoaxy no longer provides bot scores due to changes in the Twitter API, previous versions integrated Botometer to assess the influence of social bots. This feature helped in identifying accounts that were more likely to be bots.
Use Cases
Hoaxy is primarily used by researchers, developers, and media observers to:
- Analyze the spread of misinformation and disinformation.
- Identify credible sources and dubious accounts.
- Understand the context and timeframe in which a piece of information is shared.
- Debunk false claims by visualizing the networks and temporal trends associated with them.
In summary, Hoaxy is a valuable tool for anyone interested in understanding and combating the spread of fake news, offering a detailed and interactive way to visualize and analyze information dissemination on social media platforms.