DCU leading major project to tackle ‘fake news’ spread on internet

ONLINE disinformation and “fake news” through social media will be tracked by the DCU Institute for Future Media and Journalism (FuJo) in a €2.4m EU project.

The three-year project, called Provenance, will focus on finding solutions to enable people to distinguish between original information and disinformation.

The project will be of use for consumers of news and political information, but also creators who want to secure their content from manipulation or unauthorised use.

Provenance will be led by Dr Jane Suiter, an associate professor at FuJo.

She said: “The speed and volume of disinformation on social media has the potential to undermine democracy, business and social reputations.”

The project team includes partners from Ireland, Spain, the Czech Republic and Austria. Irish collaborators include the SFI Adapt Research Centre for Digital Content Technology at Trinity College Dublin and the content intelligence company NewsWhip.

President of Dublin City University Professor Brian MacCraith said: “Ensuring the integrity and reliability of news from various sources is a critical issue for citizens across the globe at this time and is one that gets to the very heart of democracy.”