Twitter to have its very own Lie-Detector
17
Apr 2009
A wayward eye is a visible entity when a lie is uttered. But how does one check for falsified social networking posts? A commendable effort is being put forth by Twitter through the formulation of a team of European scientists who are hard-at-work to create a lie-detection mechanism using a software called Pheme.
The team of scientists belongs to five different universities. They are working conjointly with four companies to currently undertake two activities:
- Analyzing historical data of Twitter tweets: To determine possible tweets that are not true
- Identifying spam bots: Spam bots are accounts that are system-operated and do not involve actual human beings
The selection of Pheme has been undertaken because it can:
- Identify incorrect information in terms of news source and conversations from tweets
- Identify incorrect information by analyzing the languages used in tweets
- Identify words often used while writing when emotions are riding high – Thus, the probability of exaggeration is quite high
Moreover, this software will also be able to act as a warning bell for any news posted on Twitter. It would send alerts to the relevant journalists who can then check for the validity of the information posted.
Citing the situation that took place during the riots of 2011 in London, company officials stated that tweets containing images of the burning London Eye (A giant ferris wheel) were posted by rioters. Although, the information was false, there was no medium to discredit this rumor on time.
Hence, a lie-detector mechanism will be extremely useful since after its implementation there would be no reoccurrence of similar rumors. However, the world is an unpredictable one and should one tweet containing a “rumor” manage to find its place among the walls of followers, it would be quickly removed using this mechanism before any damage is done.
There are many hurdles in place for the team to encounter and solve however. For example, Pheme does not recognize images or videos and tweets having video links and images are the lion’s share of tweets present in the tweet-world today.
There is still some time before this mechanism is launched however its potential of curbing falsified information has already been recognized. The work is in full swing and the day is not far when people who post false information on Twitter will have their accounts deleted.
