The Science of Fake News
2018 · paper · Media studies
Reviews what is known about fake news and argues that addressing it needs a multidisciplinary research effort. It discusses two mitigation strategies: helping individuals identify fake news and platform interventions, and says platform cooperation with researchers is critical.
Checked: PDF from arxiv.org, fetched 5 Oct 2026. Page numbers are those of that PDF.
0 findings
None that passed a second check.
7 minor (typos and the like; most checked by the judge only)
Typo Affiliation 7 is printed as "7Dartmouth University"; the institution is named Dartmouth College.
- p. 1 Affiliation list, affiliation 7 (Brendan Nyhan)
7Dartmouth University
Only the authors can say what is right here.
Judge's note: Rests on outside knowledge: that the institution's official name is Dartmouth College and that no "Dartmouth University" exists. The page image shows "7Dartmouth University" in the affiliation list, so the quote is as printed; the correct name cannot be verified from the files.
Second check: none (judge only)
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Typo The citation in the version box reads "Science 359,1094-1096 (2018)" with no space after the comma.
- p. 1 footer note with published version
Science 359,1094-1096 (2018)
Judge's note: The page image shows "359,1094-1096" with no space between the volume and the page range. It is a spacing point in a notice box added to the accepted manuscript, purely cosmetic.
Second check: none (judge only)
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Typo "In 1997, 64% of Democrats and 41% of Republicans ... Twenty years later, in 2016": 1997 to 2016 is 19 years, not twenty.
- p. 2 Background, first paragraph
In 1997, 64% of Democrats and 41% of Republicans
- p. 2 Background, first paragraph
Twenty years later, in 2016, these percentages had
- p. 2 Background, trust in media
Twenty years later, in 2016
- p. 2 Background, trust in media
In 1997, 64% of Democrats and 41% of Republicans reported a great deal or fair amount of trust in the media. Twenty years later, in 2016,
Judge's note: The page 2 image shows both years printed exactly and "Twenty years later" with no qualifier. The interval is 19 years. The percentage-point figures in the same sentence are consistent (64 less 13 is 51, 41 less 27 is 14). No other statement in the article explains the span; it reads as loose rounding, so it is a minor consistency point and does not change the meaning.
Second check: none (judge only)
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Typo "Russia successfully manipulated all of the major platforms during the 2016 election, as their recent testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee made clear (8).": "their" is meant to refer to the platforms, but the sentence's subject is Russia.
- p. 5 Platform-based detection and intervention, second paragraph
Russia successfully manipulated all of the major platforms during the 2016 election, as their recent testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee made clear (8).
- p. 5 Last paragraph, third sentence
Russia successfully manipulated all of the major platforms during the 2016 election, as their recent testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee made clear (8)
Judge's note: The crop shows the sentence as quoted. Reference 8 on page 8 is the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing "Extremist Content and Russian Disinformation Online: Working with Tech to Find Solutions", so the testimony is the platforms'. "Platforms" is the nearest plural noun and the intended reading is easily recovered, so this is a slight looseness of wording, not a factual error.
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Typo Missing full stop: "the effectiveness of their interventions There are multiple challenges to scientific collaboration".
- p. 7 Second paragraph, line 2
the effectiveness of their interventions There are multiple challenges
- p. 7
the effectiveness of their interventions There are multiple challenges to
Judge's note: The page 7 image shows "interventions There" with no full stop between the two sentences, so this is not an extraction artefact.
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Typo Reference 7 gives the first author without an initial: "7. Gottfried, E. Shearer, News Use Across Social Media Platforms 2016 (2016)."
- p. 8 References and Notes, entry 7
Gottfried, E. Shearer, News Use Across Social Media Platforms 2016 (2016).
- p. 8 References, entry 7
Gottfried, E. Shearer, News Use Across Social Media Platforms 2016
- p. 8 References, item 7
7. Gottfried, E. Shearer, News Use Across Social Media Platforms 2016 (2016).
Judge's note: The page 8 image shows entry 7 beginning with the bare surname "Gottfried," while every other personal author in the list has initials before the surname (for example "E. Guskin", "H. Allcott", "A. Swift"). The missing initial is evident from the list's own format. That the initial is "J." rests on outside knowledge and is not verifiable from the files. The entry also has no publisher or URL, unlike the other report entries (1-3, 8, 10).
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Typo Reference 4 is formatted differently from the rest of the list: "R. Johnston, D. Manley, and K. Jones. "Spatial Polarization of Presidential Voting in the United States, 1992–2012: The “Big Sort” Revisited." Annals of the American Association of Geographers 106.5 (2016): 1047-1062."
- p. 8 References, item 4
R. Johnston, D. Manley, and K. Jones. "Spatial Polarization of Presidential Voting in the
- p. 8 References, item 4
R. Johnston, D. Manley, and K. Jones. "Spatial Polarization of Presidential Voting in the United States, 1992–2012: The “Big Sort” Revisited." Annals of the American Association of Geographers 106.5 (2016): 1047-1062.
Judge's note: The page 8 image shows entry 4 with "and" before the last author, a title in quotation marks, "106.5 (2016): 1047-1062" for volume, issue and pages, whereas the other journal entry (6) reads "Journal of Economic Perspectives. 31, 211–236 (2017)" with no quotation marks. The authors are given initials-first as elsewhere, so one reviewer's "surname-first" description is not right. The citation content is complete; this is a style inconsistency only.
Second check: none (judge only)