Germany’s anti-fake news lab yields mixed results

A picture taken on October 9, 2015 in Madrid shows a computer screen displaying the Facebook webpage with the new "Reactions" options as an extension of the "like" button, to give people more ways to easily signal how they feel. Facebook will begin testing this new feature allowing users in Ireland and Spain to express a range of emotions on posts starting today, but there will be no "dislike" button, the social network said. AFP PHOTO / GERARD JULIEN (Photo credit should read GERARD JULIEN/AFP/Getty Images)

The project’s research was mentioned in a POLITICO story on Germany’s ‘fake-news’ regulation.

A new report by the University of Oxford investigated what German fact-checkers may be up against, finding that “the majority of the misinformation pages identified were politically right, and xenophobic, nationalist, pro-Pegida, pro-AfD and Islamophobic content was common.”

While in the U.S. the debate has frequently been hijacked by automated “bots,” computer scripts that spread propaganda across a series of automated user accounts across the social web, Germany deals more with vocal supporters of fringe movements who spread fake stories.

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