A SCOTTISH Member of the European Parliament has warned that fake Scots are taking to Twitter and spreading fake news.
The SNP’s Alyn Smith says he is worried that “a small but significant amount of Twitter accounts that are pretending to be from Scotland, but are actually not” could leave people “vulnerable to misleading content”.
He has called on the social media behemoth to start verifying that people are based where they claim to be based.
READ MORE: Ukip leader compares SNP politician to the Nazis in Twitter rant
It comes ahead of the publication tomorrow of a study on Scottish Twitter, commissioned by Smith, entitled Scotland And Social Media: Trolls Under The Bridge.
Extracts from the research, already released, claimed that 4.25% of Scottish Twitter activity is identifiable as potentially “malign” – run by trolls and bots and attempting to influence and poison the public discourse. Of the 36.4 million tweets analysed, a potential maximum of 4.2m tweets could be malign, the report warns.
It goes on to say that Scotland’s social media user community is likely to see itself increasingly targeted by bots and trolls. Smith has called for a “Scotland Verified” status.
He explained: “Scottish online discourse, like all our discourse, is largely positive, raucous and often very funny. But there is a minority that is looking to use it for ill, and there are issues with online anonymity giving a cover for abuse or misleading content.
“It would be easy for Twitter to make the accounts clearly from one place or another, as some people choose to do presently.
“My view is that there is a small but significant amount of Twitter accounts that are pretending to be from Scotland, but are actually not, and that may leave us vulnerable to misleading content.
“The change I propose is quite straightforward, and would in no way limit free speech or expression. It would instead make clear, literally, where someone is coming from, which would enable people viewing the output of such accounts to make more of a judgment on how valid the output of those accounts is.”
The MEP has written to Twitter UK boss Bruce Daisley, asking him to look at the plan.
A Twitter spokesperson told The National: “Twitter’s singular focus is improving the health of the public conversation. Part of this work involves surfacing more credible, quality content for people who use the platform, and challenging malicious spam and automation which disrupts the conversation.
“We are now challenging and identifying 10m spammy or automated accounts every single week, and thwarting over 500,000 suspicious logins every single day. Targeted abuse and harassment are a violation of the Twitter Rules”.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel