Research on Fake Content Shared on Twitter About the Economy
Mehmet Sinan Tam, Serap Bereketoğlu, Nazan ŞanlıIn recent years, fake content has been produced in the field of economics, as in almost every subject. As the main focus of this production, X, previously known as Twitter, has millions of users and can also mediate the problem. This research specifically aims to reveal posts containing disinformation and misinformation about the economy in Türkiye. In this context, the study has collected relevant data involving 197,106 share tweets before coding these shares and analyzing them in the MAXQDA program, using the content analysis method. As a result of the analysis, the study has determined that users mostly share disinformation using parody content, which is one method used to spread false information. Users were also discovered to share postings on the economy for the aim of amusement and scorn, but these contents were supported by bogus posts in such a way that they served as a guide for users. X is where fake content about the economy is shared and has been determined to frequently reference terms related to the economy (e.g., dollar, stock market, gold), prominent agendas in the Türkiye’s economy (e.g., retirement age victims), politicians (e.g., President, Minister of Economy and Finance), academicians, and experts (e.g., Prof. Dr. Özgür Demirtaş, İslam Memiş). As a result, the study suggests that measures should be taken to highlight the centers where social media users who encounter content containing disinformation can verify these contents and to legally block users who share such content on the subject. Meanwhile, the study also suggests that issue will not be resolved simply by conducting audits in the context of the media and that studies should be carried out to increase individuals’ financial literacy levels.
Twitter’da Ekonomi Hakkında Paylaşılan Sahte İçerikler Üzerine Bir Araştırma
Mehmet Sinan Tam, Serap Bereketoğlu, Nazan ŞanlıSon yıllarda hemen her konuda olduğu gibi ekonomi alanında sahte içerikler üretilebilmektedir. Bu üretimin ana odağında milyonlarca kullanıcısı bulunan X/ Twitter da aracılık edebilmektedir. Bu araştırmada, Türkiye özelinde ekonomi hakkında X’de dezenformasyon ve misenformasyon içerikli paylaşımların ortaya konulması amaçlanmıştır. Bu bağlamda 1-31 Ocak 2023 tarihleri arasında ekonomi gündemindeki anahtar kelimelerden hareketle (dolar, borsa, altın vb) MAXQDA programı üzerinden X’den veri toplanmıştır. 197.106 tweetin paylaşıldığı bu konuda söz konusu paylaşımlar içerik analizi yöntemiyle aynı programda kodlanmış ve analizleri gerçekleştirilmiştir. Yapılan analizler sonucunda; kullanıcıların yanlış bilginin yayılımında kullanılan bir yöntem olan parodi içeriklerle daha çok dezenformasyona yönelik paylaşımlar yaptığı tespit edilmiştir. Burada kullanıcıların mizah ve alaya alma amacıyla ekonomi hakkında paylaşımlar yaptıkları fakat bu içeriklerin kullanıcıları yönlendirici bir role sahip olacak şekilde sahte paylaşımlarla desteklendiği saptanmıştır. Ekonomi ile ilgili sahte içeriklerin paylaşıldığı X’de; ekonomi ile ilgili terimler (dolar, borsa altın vb.), ülke ekonomisinde öne çıkan gündemler (EYT), politikacılar (Cumhurbaşkanı, Ekonomi ve Maliye Bakanı), akademisyenler ve uzmanların (Prof. Dr. Özgür Demirtaş, İslam Memiş) sıklıkla referans alındığı belirlenmiştir. Çalışmanın sonucunda; dezenformatik içeriklerle karşılaşan sosyal medya kullanıcılarının bu içerikleri teyit edebilecekleri merkezlerin ön plana çıkartılması ve konu hakkında bu tarz içerikleri paylaşanların yasal yollarla engellenmesi noktasında önlemler alınması gerektiği ileri sürülmüştür. Öte yandan sadece mecra bağlamında denetimlerin yapılmasıyla konunun nihai çözüme kavuşmayacağı, burada bireylerin finansal okuryazarlık seviyesinin de artırılması yönelik çalışmaların yapılması, önerisinde de bulunulmuştur.
The Turkish Language Association (TDK, 2023) has defined misinformation as “the distortion of information.” Disinformation posts are purposely spread to deceive other users and generate a desired perception. Users distribute misinformation without questioning it, believing it to be true (Bahar, 2020).
The loss of truth is experienced in the economy as well as in every area of society. İşleyen (2021, p. 71) clarified the issue at what rate the companies traded on the Istanbul Stock Exchange, which he examined within the scope of his research, are found more and more on the media agenda. Açıkalın and Canbey’s (2022, p. 8) research discussed the concepts of network society and post-truth and obtained the following findings: (1) The proliferation of social media platforms that accelerate the post-truth process has also enabled this concept to gain meaning, and (2) the biggest reason for this situation is that, thanks to social media platforms, content owners with unknown origins are able to deliver unproven information to large communities over a short time.
When looking at the 21st century, fake content has mostly been experienced under the headings of natural events, disasters, tensions between states, states of war, election periods, civil unrest, statements made (or not made) by official and non-governmental organizations, public opinion polls, cyber-attacks, diplomacy, immigrants, and the economy (Posetti & Matthews, 2018). Fake content can be said to be increasing, especially when tensions between states turn into conflicts or end in war. Immediately following the start of the Russia-Ukraine war that broke out at the beginning of 2022, hundreds of videos, images, and articles with fake content were observed being shared on social media and traditional media channels in Türkiye alone (Babacan & Tam, 2022, p. 82).
According to the Reuters Institute digital news report (Newman, 2022), news consumption has also increased with the increase in social media use in Türkiye. Topics shared on social media often include women’s rights and socioeconomic issues. The same report also determined the news disinformation rate in Türkiye to be 62%, of which 53% related to politics and 46% to the pandemic.
The fictional transformation of information into disinformation directly affects reality, and this disinformation content can be conveyed to people in different areas. Presenting lies directly to the public, shaping the truth with other fake content, revealing a new reality by destroying part of the truth, and producing more striking content than necessary directly contribute to the formation of disinformation (Ertem, 2019).
Many reasons exist for producing fake news. While these may be ideological and political, commercial reasons also play a role here. In addition to producing propaganda, users also resort to disinformation to gain followers and commercial profit, and in general terms, this factor stands out (Öztürk, 2022). Apart from all these, deficiencies and gaps in control and legal legislation also encourage fake news content producers, causing this situation to have become increasingly widespread.
Disinformation in economics and in the absence of shared market knowledge alters reality and provides false information to the masses. This condition leads readers of economic journalism to believe in an economic model created by perceptions rather than the true economic reality (Aydınbaş, 2022). In contrast to traditional media, censorship is easier to avoid on social media with regard to economic news. In this context, experts and employees have remarked that social media supports the dissemination of reliable information and that journalists and economists have a space to share their knowledge and facilitate acquiring information. On the other hand, the disinformation problem circulating on social media has also negatively affected economic journalism and caused problems in this field (Uzunoğlu & Karaca, 2022, p. 11). Within the scope of research conducted in 2022, Küçükvardar (2023, p. 158–160) found 158 of the 485 pieces of economic news shared within 10 days to have been “click-oriented news” and the remaining 327 pieces to be “non-click-oriented news”.
This study seeks to uncover what bogus economic information occurs on X and under what misleading labels it emerges. In this context, data have been collected from X using the program MAXQDA between January 1-31, 2023. During January 2023, 197,106 tweets were found to be in line with this. Tweets not connected to the economy were eliminated from the coding, with content analysis being performed on the remaining data.
The day of the week on which the most tweets are shared about the economy on X was found to be Monday, followed by weekends. When evaluating all 197,106 of the tweets in question, the tags and economy-related words were seen to be frequently shared, especially between 3-6 p.m. Two prominent issues were found regarding the tags used in the economyrelated tweets. The first of these is the use of concepts and terms directly related to the economy, such as the stock market, the dollar, and gold. The second involved economyrelated events or situations on the agenda.
When looking at the misleading aspects of the economy-related content that was shared, seven headings came to the fore. Here, the analysis determined users to have shared fake content in the context of parody (174), fabrication (44), manipulation (44), incorrect attribution (14), distortion (12), incomplete presentation of the truth (9), and decontextualization (8). Regarding parody content, the study observed that users prepare the topic of the economy for entertainment and purposes of mockery.
The research has focused on misleading (misinformative, dis-informative) posts about the economy on X. Conducting academic studies on other social media channels apart from X, especially YouTube and TikTok are believed will bring a more comprehensive perspective to the subject.
