Edelman Trust Barometer Special Flash Poll

1
2018 Edelman
Trust Barometer
Special Flash Poll
Politically-Motivated Fake News
in the week of the #TechHearings
November 6, 2017

What We Did
2
Flash Poll
Nov. 3 – Nov. 6, 2017
Online survey of 1,000 U.S. general population respondents
Oversample of 113 tech employees who live in the San Francisco Bay Area
Social Listening
Oct. 29 – Nov. 4, 2017
Using the Edelman Intelligence Command Center, we analyzed online
conversation around “Fake News.” A total of 126,522 mentions were analyzed for
associated topics and sentiment.
We also analyzed 29,978 mentions using the #TechHearings hashtag.
For a detailed taxonomy, please refer to the Appendix.
Context
Oct. 31 – Nov. 1, 2017 Google, Twitter and Facebook send their general counsels to testify before the
House and Senate intelligence committees, and a Senate Judiciary subcommittee.
All three committees are investigating on Russian meddling in the 2016
presidential election, and whether it is linked to President Donald Trump's
campaign.

Bad Reporting, Name-Calling, Legitimate Threat—
No Agreement On What IS “Fake News”
Source: 2018 Edelman Trust Barometer Trust Fake News Flash Poll, Nov. 6, 2017.
Q1. Which of the following describes your beliefs about fake news? Total Sample.
3
10%
15%
16%
17%
39%
47%
It is not a real problem. It is just hype.
A weapon that the Russians are using to disrupt U.S. and other democracies
A political dirty trick that Republicans are using to try and win elections
A political dirty trick that Democrats are using to try and win elections
Insult being over-used to discredit news stories people do not like
Sloppy or biased reporting by news organizations/individuals
Percent who believe each describes fake news

Bad Reporting, Name-Calling, Political Dirty Trick—
Beliefs Regarding “Fake News” Differ By Party
Q1. Which of the following describes your beliefs about fake news? General Population among Independents (N=247) vs Republicans (N=288) vs Democrats
(N=372).
4
10%
19%
25%
9%
47%
38%
8%
12%
9%
33%
32%
57%
14%
14%
12%
12%
36%
53%
It is not a real problem. It is just hype.
A weapon that the Russians are using to disrupt U.S. and other democracies
A political dirty trick that Republicans are using to try and win elections
A political dirty trick that Democrats are using to try and win elections
Insult being over-used to discredit news stories people do not like
Sloppy or biased reporting by news organizations/individuals
Independents
Republicans
Democrats
Percent who believe each describes fake news

Fake News is Decreasing Trust in
Traditional News Organizations
5
36% 26% 33% 3%3%
Decreased a lot Decreased a little No effect Increased
Percent who say that fake news has affected their trust in
traditional news organizations
62%
Trust in traditional media has decreased
Source: Source: 2018 Edelman Trust Barometer Trust Fake News Flash Poll, Nov. 6, 2017.
Q2. How has fake news effected your trust in traditional news organizations? General Population.

Fake News has a Bigger Impact on Trust in Traditional
News Organizations Among Republicans
6
22% 28% 42% 4% 4%
Percent who say that fake news has affected their trust in
traditional news organizations
Source: Source: 2018 Edelman Trust Barometer Trust Fake News Flash Poll, Nov. 6, 2017.
Q2. How has fake news effected your trust in traditional news organizations? General Population among Independents (N=247) vs Republicans (N=288) vs
Democrats (N=372).
.
49% 25% 21% 2%2%
39% 22% 34% 2%2%
Among Democrats: 50% Trust in traditional media has decreased
Among Republicans: 75% Trust in traditional media has decreased
Among Independents: 62% Trust in traditional media has decreased

Fake News is Changing
News Consumption Behaviors
7
11%
14%
24%
26%
35%
51%
It has led me to avoid the news media altogether
None at all
Has made me doubt the truth of almost every news story I see or hear
I have lost trust in the news media in general
I am fact-checking and verifying sources more than ever before
Has made me more careful about where I get news and information
Percent who say fake news has impacted them in each way
Q3. What impact has fake news had on your trust in the information you see in the news media? General Population.

Majority see Social Platforms
as Media Companies
8
2%
8%
11%
39%
47%
49%
78%
27%
37%
53%
39%
33%
29%
12%
65%
30%
31%
13%
10%
11%
3%
0% 25% 50% 75% 100%
Apple
Amazon
Google
Facebook
YouTube
Twitter
CNN
Media Both Technology Neither Don’t Know
Percent who consider each company to be media, tech or both
Q4. For each of the companies listed below, please indicate whether you consider it to be a technology company, a media company, both or neither. General
Population.

Majority of Silicon Valley Tech Employees see
Social Platforms as Media Companies
9
4%
8%
8%
27%
46%
46%
83%
12%
27%
43%
46%
39%
33%
6%
81%
46%
47%
23%
11%
19%
5%
0% 25% 50% 75% 100%
Apple
Amazon
Google
Facebook
YouTube
Twitter
CNN
Media Both Technology Neither Don’t Know
Percent who consider each company to be media, tech or both
Q4. For each of the companies listed below, please indicate whether you consider it to be a technology company, a media company, both or neither.
Silicon Valley oversample = employed in tech industry and live in San Francisco Bay area (n=113)

More Than Half Blame Social Platforms
for Spreading Fake News
10
29%
44%
44%
45%
45%
53%
54%
54%
54%
74%
78%
Google
Fox News
CNN
The Democratic party
The Republican party
Mainstream media
The Russian government
Facebook
Twitter
Internet bots
Internet trolls
Percent who blame each of the following for spreading fake news
Q5. How much do you blame each of the following for the spreading of fake news? (Top 4 Box, Blame) General Population.

Silicon Valley Less Likely to Blame the Mainstream
Media and Search but Not Social Platforms
11
19%
47%
23%
27%
42%
31%
57%
62%
58%
73%
76%
29%
44%
44%
45%
45%
53%
54%
54%
54%
74%
78%
Google
Fox News
CNN
The Democratic party
The Republican party
Mainstream media
The Russian government
Facebook
Twitter
Internet bots
Internet trolls
General Population
Silicon Valley
Percent who blame each of the following for spreading fake news,
General Population vs. Silicon Valley
Q5. How much do you blame each of the following for the spreading of fake news? (Top 4 Box, Blame) General Population vs Silicon Valley oversample.
Significant Differences

Most Want More Regulation
to Control Fake News
12
3%
8%
15%
30%
32%
37%
40%
45%
47%
47%
48%
We do not have a fake news problem in this country
None of the above
Keep the government out of this/let technology/media companies fix problem
Require that real persons screen content rather than algorithms
Shut down companies that spread fake news until they fix the problem
Prohibit foreign governments/organizations from paid political ads or content
Educate people so that they get smarter about deciding what is true
Require companies to screen for fake news
Require companies to label the source of the content and ads they host
Require companies to disclose who paid for political ads/content
Levy large fines against companies that host, publish or repeat fake news
Percent who support each of the following to fix the fake news problem
83% net
Favor some form of government
regulation or new laws to address the
Fake News problem
Q6. Which of the following would you support as a means to fixing the fake news problem? General Population.

Facebook, Twitter and Google Top the List
of Companies That Should Be More Regulated
13
15%
16%
16%
17%
20%
30%
42%
49%
Amazon
Apple
Microsoft
Airbnb
UBER
Google
Twitter
Facebook
Percent who believe each of the following companies should be subject to
increased government regulation
Q7. Which of the following companies do you believe should be subjected to increased government regulation? General Population.

Even Silicon Valley Agrees on Need for
More Government Oversight of Tech Companies
14
Q6. Which of the following would you support as a means to fixing the fake news problem? Net of items a-g and percent who selected item i. General Population vs Silicon Valley oversample
Q7. Which of the following companies do you believe should be subjected to increased government regulation? Companies listed: Facebook, Google, Twitter, UBER, Airbnb, Amazon,
Microsoft, Apple. Percent who selected ‘None of the above’. General Population vs Silicon Valley oversample.
General Population Silicon Valley
Favor some form of government regulation or new
laws to address the Fake News problem
83% 93%
Do NOT believe any of the tech companies listed*
require additional government oversight
38% 24%
Support keeping government out of this and letting
technology and media companies figure our for
themselves the best way to handle this problem
15% 9%

Companies Associated with Fake News:
Facebook Dominates, Twitter and Google Referenced Heavily
Data was aggregated through Edelman Intelligence Command Center from 10/29-11/04/17 for a total of 126,552 mentions.
Shown total per company and overall will be greater as mentions that reference more than one company will be counted more. Arrows next to company names in
the Share of Voice indicate percentage of increased or decreased conversation around that company in comparison to the previous week. 15
Mentions of social media companies in relationship to
fake news (share of voice)

Conversations Related to Fake
News and Social Platforms
Focused on Russia, Trump and
the Senate
Shown total per company and overall will be greater as mentions that reference more than one company will be counted more. Inner circle references the
company, with the outer circle color-coded by which theme references back to the company.
16
Automatically-generated conversation themes around
each company and the topic of fake news

Strong Negative Sentiment
Around Social Media Companies
Shown total per company and overall will be greater as mentions that reference more than one company will be counted more. Arrows next to company names
indicate percentage of increased or decreased conversation around that company in comparison to the previous week.
Automated sentiment on the top social media
companies in relationship to fake news

Twitter, Facebook and
Google Mentioned
Fairly Equally During
#TechHearings
conversation
Data was aggregated through Edelman Intelligence Command Center from 10/31 to 11/02/17 for a total of 29,978 mentions.
Not all mentions referenced a company.
18
Share of voice among companies
in mentions of #techhearings

General Fake News Conversation Dominated
by Trump, Industry Discussion and Russia
Quid analysis contains data for the 10/03/17 to 11/04/17 sourced through Lexis Nexis. Algorithms within the Quid system determine significant meaning between
stories which form “clusters” which are then analyzed and grouped based on similarities and themes determined by the analyst.
News article network with 3021 stories. Colored by clusters. Sized by degree. Labeled by clusters. 19
Topic clusters in
news coverage
around “Fake News”
in the month of
October
Clusters
● Donald Trump 36%
● Industry Discussion 27%
● Russia 12%
● Philippines 6.8%
● Las Vegas Shooting 4.7%
● Malaysia 3.8%
● Word of the Year 2.3%
● IoT Threats 1.8%
● Nigeria 1.7%
● Catalonia 0.70%
● Germany 0.60%
● Iran 0.50%
● UK 0.36%

Appendix
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Command Center Query
Fake News Taxonomy
("social media" OR "social network" OR "social networks" OR "digital media" OR "digital news" OR "digital landscape" OR "live video" OR
"livestreaming" OR "live streaming" OR "livestream" OR "live stream" OR "new media" OR google OR twitter OR facebook OR reddit OR 4chan
OR youtube) NEAR/10 ("fake news" OR fakenews OR "fake accounts" OR "election interference" OR "election influence" OR "campaign
interference" OR "campaign influence" OR "campaign collusion" OR "foreign collusion" OR "foreign interference" OR "foreign influence" OR
"automated accounts" OR "automated account" OR "influence campaign" OR "troll farm" OR trollfarm OR misinformation OR disinformation OR
"false information" OR "falsified information" OR "bot nets" OR botnets OR "malicious networks" OR "malicious network" OR "voter suppression"
OR "election interference" OR "election influence"~2 OR "transparency ads"~2 OR "transparency advertising"~2 OR "transparency advertiser"~2
OR "transparency advertisers"~2 OR "transparency advertisement"~2 OR "transparency advertisements"~2 OR "presidential campaign" OR
"presidential campaigns" OR "congressional campaign" OR "congressional campaigns" OR "midterm elections" OR "midterm election" OR "mid-
term election" OR "mid-term election" OR "polarized" OR "polarizing" OR "confirmation bias" OR "echo chamber" OR "media bubble" OR "liberal
bubble" OR "costal bubble" OR "conservative bubble" OR "midwest bubble" OR "blue state bubble" OR "red state bubble" OR "political climate"
OR "fact checking" OR "fact check" OR "fact checker" OR "fact checkers" OR "democracy" OR "democratic process" OR "democratic freedom"
OR "russian influence" OR "russian collusion" OR "russian interference" OR "suspending accounts" OR "finding accounts" OR "bad actors" OR
"bad actor" OR "alt-right" OR "altright" OR "alt right")

Appendix
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Quid Taxonomy
"fake news" OR fakenews OR "fake accounts" OR "automated accounts" OR "automated account" OR
"influence campaign" OR "troll farm" OR "bot nets" OR "botnets" OR "malicious networks" OR "malicious
network"

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