Jiding Zhang is an Assistant Professor of Operations Management at NYU Shanghai. Jiding’s primary research interests lie in the field of marketplace analytics. In her recent work, she analyzes the operations and economics of various digital platforms using both data analytic and mathematical modeling tools. She is also interested in developing data-driven methods for analysis of online markets. Jiding obtained her PhD from the Operations, Information and Decisions Department of The Wharton School, under supervision of Professors Senthil Veeraraghavan, Ken Moon and Sergei Savin.
| Name of Speaker | Zhang Jiding |
| Schedule | 18 March, 10am – 11.30am |
| Link to Register | https://nus-sg.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZApfuqppj4oHNZ-X8Btkjv-RqJAHz1zdBva |
| Title of Talk | Does Fake News Content Create Echo Chambers? |
| Abstract | Platforms have recently come under criticism from regulatory agencies, policymakers, and media scholars for the burgeoning influence of unfettered fake news online. There has been debate regarding whether such online false news content creates echo chambers—segments of the market in which false news is exclusively or predominantly consumed. We use a large-scale dataset reporting individual households’ online activity to understand the trends in online news consumption and examine the claim that online news creates echo chambers. We find that the consumption of false news online is widespread, yet despite that, such echo chambers are minimal. Through a structural model we analyze the joint consumption of online news from mainstream sources and from sources producing false content. Using a natural experiment created by a policy change on the largest social media platform, we find that not only are echo chamber effects not pronounced on the aggregate level, the causal effect of consuming more from false news sources is greater countervailing consumption of mainstream news. Naive, operational interventions such as reducing the supply of false news sources may unnecessarily reduce the overall consumption of news from mainstream sources without adequately protecting the small minority most vulnerable to consuming only false news. |
