Fake News spreading on Twitter: Curro: The “condemned dog”

Abstract

Spurred by the technological, political, social and journalistic revolutions related to Web 2.0, the phenomenon of Fake News has burst onto the media scene thanks to Trump’s victory in the United States and the polemic Brexit campaign in the United Kingdom. Long discussed with regard to its effects on the political and electoral landscapes, the spectrum of Fake News extends far beyond propaganda campaigns and is driven as well by changes in the consumption and distribution of news and, above all, by changes in digital monetization. Using Big Data techniques, this article analyses the case of the dissemination of a false social media news story via Twitter: the case of Curro, the “condemned” dog. The behavior of the principal actors who shared the story during the week of Christmas, 2018, is also analysed, with the aim of observing how a news item is spread and viralised, even if by artificial means. The research also delves into content sharing and digital community behaviors in order to identify coordination dynamics and conduct related to pre-existing prejudices and frames of reference.