The process of documenting news and posts that distort reality is currently underway.
Audax Cybersecurity, a company specializing primarily in providing information system security services, is progressing in the development of specialized software that will search for the source of every article published on websites and social media, using a dedicated algorithm that will facilitate the detection of fake news. As the CEO of the company, Theofanis Kasimis, stated in NetFAX, "We have observed the creation of many new blogs and Twitter accounts shortly after the appearance of the first COVID-19 cases in Greece, which engaged in spreading fake news."
Users were sharing photos from past incidents to mislead the public. "We noticed that there were users who shared photos that questioned the fact that the virus had reached Greece. There were cases where some had used old snapshots from the earthquake in Lampedusa or from drownings of refugees and migrants in the Mediterranean, combining them with recent images of military vehicles in Bergamo. In this context, they argued that the photos of the vehicles did not correspond to the current reality but were from previous fatal incidents that occurred in Italy."
"Confusion was caused to the Greek public"
With the emergence of the aforementioned incidents and similar ones, there has been a proliferation of posts of this nature - suggesting that there is nothing significant happening regarding the coronavirus - on the Greek internet. This has caused confusion among people and essentially encouraged citizens to circulate freely, contrary to the Ministry of Health's campaign #StayHome and the measures imposed by the Greek government.
Collection and research of more than 65,000 tweets
"Within the scope of our research, we have already collected 65,000 tweets from users through hashtags related to the coronavirus. Our goal is to categorize the users by gender and classify them into age groups and geographical regions of origin. Subsequently, we will filter this specific data and activate the relevant algorithm, which will even identify the initial source of the news, creating the entire 'tree' and its branches, while simultaneously displaying the complete path that each news or photo has recorded," explains Mr. Kasimis.
Detailed history for each news item Furthermore, Audax Cybersecurity will present the detailed history of each news item in the near future, providing the necessary information to the public, accompanied by the required details that will classify them as fake news. Through this specific research, statistical data will also emerge regarding the origin of fake news, their frequency, and quantity, which will be made available to the public on a dedicated website that will be created.
The interview was conducted for the subscription magazine NetFax.