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The Role of Online Misinformation and Fake News in Ideological Polarization: Barriers, Catalysts, and Implications

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Abstract

In recent years, the circulation of online misinformation and fake news has drawn our attention, given it has ideologically polarized society and has led to social instability, compromised democracies, and other consequences. Efforts on technical or behavioral dimensions on their identification are not uncommon, but these efforts inadequately addressed their roots, and thus may not stop them from creation or spreading. Using the theoretical lens of computer-mediated communications, we analyzed the ideological polarization phenomenon in Hong Kong, which has been worsening since the Umbrella Revolution in 2014. We proposed a three-stage model to illustrate the mechanism of how online misinformation and fake news leads to ideological polarization. The catalysts and barriers in each stage were also highlighted. Our analyses generate a better understanding of the mechanisms that help hinder the circulation of online misinformation and fake news, and thus, reduces the damages it caused.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Information Management, National Chung Cheng University, Chiayi, Taiwan

    Cheuk Hang Au

  2. University of Guam, SBPA Room 227, UOG Station, Mangilao, Guam, GU, 96923, USA

    Kevin K. W. Ho

  3. The University of Hong Kong, Room 215, Runme Shaw Building, Pokfulam, Hong Kong

    Dickson K.W. Chiu

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  1. Cheuk Hang Au
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List and Summaries of Incidents Included in Data Collection

List and Summaries of Incidents Included in Data Collection

  • Case 1 - The Proposal for Attacking Hong Kong pro-Democracy Camp by the Government (2011).

In 2011, a set of documents was leaked and uploaded in an online forum, which included a plan of attacking the Hong Kong pro-democracy camp. The plan had revealed the username of the accounts that were used to attack the pro-democracy camp, and the relevant works that have been conducted. A number of pro-democracy lawmakers responded by citing their furiousness regarding the government plan and critics regarding the surveillance of pro-democracy lawmakers by the Beijing agency in Hong Kong.

  • Case 2 - Dispute and Protests on Moral and National Education in Secondary Schools (2012).

Moral and national education was a school curriculum proposed by the Education Bureau of Hong Kong in 2012. The proposed curriculum was considered to be highly controversial, given its favorable stance on the Communist Party of China and criticism of the United States’ two-party system. Some online column articles, especially from pro-Beijing news platforms, has been attacking the activists for opposing with no ground, even if the reasons were reasonably communicated in other media.

  • Cases 3 to 9 Umbrella Revolution (Year: 2014).

Umbrella Revolution was a series of sit-in street protests that occurred in Hong Kong in late 2014. The protests began after the Beijing government issued a decision regarding the Hong Kong constitutional reform, which was widely seen to be highly restrictive, and tantamount to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)‘s pre-screening of the candidates for the Chief Executive of Hong Kong. During the protests, there were a number of rumors, misinformation, and fake news being circulated online. Some of them were even reported by traditional, mainstream media.

Case 3 refers to a Facebook message which accused the protestors of blocking the roads, leading to the permanent brain damage of a newborn baby of his friend given she could not arrive at the labor room of Ruttonjee Hospital on time. The message was disproven, given there was no labor room in Ruttonjee Hospital. Some pro-movement Internet users accused that it was a fake story deliberately made up by anti-movement Internet users, and the Hospital Authority also disproved the rumors later. However, Wenweipo – A Chinese State-sponsored media in Hong Kong, which has been opposing the protests, had reported the rumors accusing the protestors in their printed newspaper.

Case 4 refers to a photo with a man who wore a police uniform with bloodstains on the hand. It was said that the protestors beat the man in the photo. Many pro-Beijing Internet users, including Andrew Fung, who was the Information Coordinator of Chief Executive Office, accused the protestors based on this photo. However, it was soon discovered that the photo was a stunt makeup of an actor in a local TV drama.

Case 5 was related to a 35-s voice recording, which urged the protestors to retreat due to the abuse of tear gases by the police and to plan a student strike as soon as possible. The recording was said to be Joshua Wong, one of the influential leaders of the protest. However, Wong clarified via his social media page, disproving the claims quickly that the police detained him at that time, and his phone was confiscated at that time.

Case 6 refers to a piece of fake news on 30 September from Oriental Daily (a pro-Hong Kong Government newspaper), which reported that a driver suffered from a heart attack while driving and died. The news accused that the death of the driver was due to the protest. However, the son of the deceased driver actively clarified that it was not related to the protest.

Case 7 is related to a social worker who disseminated rumors about youngsters in triad groups being paid to crash the protest in Mongkok. The employer of the social worker received numerous complaints and fired the social worker immediately.

Case 8 refers to a photo that appears to be an umbrella with knives, which was shared by pro-Beijing activist Anna Chan, pro-Beijing lawmaker Christopher Chung, and other pro-Beijing Internet users. The pro-Beijing camp accused that it was the fatal weapon being used by the protestors, but the pro-democracy Internet users have soon found it out it was an art installation. Nevertheless, the authenticity of the rumors remains being debated after the designers of the art installation made a declaration.

In Case 9, pro-Beijing online media Hong Kong uploaded a photo with a group of people buying steel shoes, claiming that they were the protestors of the Umbrella Revolution who would like to attack the police using the steel shoes. The report was responded by a student in the Maritime Services Training Institute, who clarified that they were buying the shoes for academic activities. The student also criticized that the reporters and Internet users who made such accusations should have brain damage.

  • Case 10 - Hoax on Leticia Lee as a Prostitute on Chinese Wikipedia (Year: 2014).

Leticia Lee was a radical pro-Beijing social activist. In October 2014, her Chinese Wikipedia page was found to be including content accusing her of previously being a prostitute, but the relevant content was not cited with any sources. Although the accusation was ungrounded, some online media reported that as if a scandal of Lee.

  • Case 11 – The Ungrounded Defense of Wing-yin Wat for Protecting the Uniformed On-duty Police Being Filmed Buying Seafood (Year: 2015).

In 2015, there was a photo being circulated online rapidly, which showed a uniformed policeman buying seafood in the market while on duty. Some Internet users criticized the behavior of the police. However, Wat published an article claiming that it was indeed related to a case of street-blocking by the seafood stall, and therefore the police needed to take the seafood. She also criticized the general public for being too harsh on the police and counter-suggested having paparazzi to catch the university students who skipped the lessons, given their studies were (partially) paid by tax-payers’ money. Some other online media writers disagreed with Wat and analyzed what the police are expected to do even if there was such a street-blocking case and suggested there was no such need to take or buy the seafood.

  • Cases 12 to 14 - Hong Kong Legislative Council Election 2016 and Post-Election Oath-taking Controversy.

The 2016 Hong Kong Legislative Council election was held on 4 September 2016 for the 6th Legislative Council of Hong Kong (LegCo). Many new faces rose from the Umbrella Revolution got elected. The pro-democracy camp had obtained 30 seats in the election, but the government disqualified 6 of them.

Case 12 is related to the hoax on Holden Chow made by TVMost, an online news and entertainment platform. Holden Chow was a pro-Beijing candidate with substantial chances to be elected but faced vigorous competition. However, he was mocked by an actor of TVMost claiming that he was very secure, not having any chances of losing the election. The action of TVMost was condemned by many supporters of Holden Chow, and had triggered debates and personal attacks between the Internet users of the two political camps.

Case 13 is related to the announcement of electioneering suspension of 7 candidates in the hope of deflecting their votes to their pro-democracy allies. While many traditional and online media widely reported it, TVB News deliberately not to report it but only quote a column article which attacked the decision of these seven candidates, leading to an intentionally-biased news report.

Case 14 is related to the oath-taking controversy in the Legislative Council after the election. Some pro-democracy and localist lawmakers did not follow the standard oath-taking procedures but instead included different words related to their platforms and political ideology when taking their oath. That was previously acceptable behavior for not following the standard oath wording for the oath-taking procedures. Amongst this group of legislators got disqualified, two of them added controversial words, which were considered as harassment to ethnical Chinese by some pro-Beijing politicians, were disqualified by the government with another four pro-democracy lawmakers just making a minor alteration of the oath.

  • Case 15 - Cat Attack Dispute in Kwun Tong – Unfair Comparison by Wing-yin Wat (Year: 2017).

In October 2017, there was a cat in a pharmacy shop in Kwun Tong being accused of attacking a customer who was a Mainland China tourist. As a result, the cat was detained. The detention and the accusation led to significant online discussion and the concerns of two lawmakers, pro-Beijing Kwok-Fun Lau and pro-Democracy Roy Kwong. Wat, however, wrote an article asking not to judge the correctness about the accused attack but instead challenged Kwong for crossing the border of electoral constituencies to sabotage the incident and jeopardizing the rule of law. However, Kwong was elected in the constituency of District Council (Second), an at-large constituency of the Hong Kong Legislative Council. While Lau was not elected directly by any electorates in Kwun Tong and may be considered as the one who “cross the border,” Wat kept silent towards the actions of Lau. Some pro-Democracy Internet users were discontent towards the article of Wat and highlighted the history of abandoning pets of Wat and her husband.

  • Case 16 – The Toxic Lychee Rumors Distributed by pro-Beijing lawmaker Christopher Cheung (Year: 2017).

Before 2017, there was a widely circulated rumor among Internet users in China related to an “SK5” virus that has contaminated the lychee. The rumors were reported and disproved by television programs in China multiple times. However, the rumors were still received by some Internet users in Hong Kong, including pro-Beijing lawmaker Christopher Cheung. With good intentions, he shared it with some of his friends. Some of his friends added his name on top of the original text and stated it was a gentle reminder from him when forwarding the rumors further. Being asked by the reporter, he said that he would be more careful afterward. The reporter also interviewed some ordinary Internet users. And yet, some Internet users said they might still forward these types of messages even if it appeared to be fake, given it might serve as a reminder for their friends.

  • Case 17 - The Ungrounded Claims of Wing-yin Wat on Paid Protest in Mongkok (Year: 2018).

After the end of the Umbrella Revolution, some protesters had formed a social movement group which was called “Gau Wu Tuen” (鳩嗚團, which teasing “Shopping Tour” of Chinese Tourists by mocking the Mandarin pronunciation of shopping tour as “Disturbing Tour” to the local community). Their primary activities including street stations for in Mongkok (a famous tourist and local shopping area) and participation in some pro-democracy protests. In 2018, Wat wrote an article accusing that the members of the “Gau Wu Tuen” were addicted to drugs and were paid for protesting outside the Mongkok Police Station. There were, however, no evidence provided in the article. In response to the accusation, the members of the group fooled Wat by visiting the Labor Department and asked Wat to reveal more information about their employers.

  • Case 18 - The Ungrounded Claims of Wing-yin Wat on Pro-democracy Lawmaker Eddie Chu during Hong Kong Extradition Bills Amendment Dispute (Year: 2019).

In 2019, Hong Kong fell into a dispute regarding the Extradition Bills Amendment. The amendment was vehemently opposed by the pro-democracy camp and most of the members of the public, and some pro-democracy lawmakers have been frequently interviewed by different TV programs for explaining their stance. However, Wat uploaded a photo from an interview with pro-democracy lawmaker Eddie Chu on her social media pages, but added a fake sub-title and accused Chu of being cold-blooded for objecting this bill (as the pro-Beijing politicians claimed that the Bill could help to arrest Hongkonger who broke the overseas law to be sent to the overseas court). The actions of Wat were eventually disproven.

  • Case 19 - HK Polytechnic University Protest Student Exclusion - Unfair Column Article of Wing-yin Wat (Year: 2019).

In 2019, two students were expelled by the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, because of their impolite speech towards the senior university management and their protests against upper-level intervention over the management of the democracy wall of the university, given the wall was dedicated to the student union, not the university. Wat had written an article in HKGPao, an online website established by pro-Beijing current affairs critics Robert Chow. In the article, Wat enlarged the incorrectness of the students’ actions, ignore the original disputes, and accused RTHK (Radio Television Hong Kong) of being biased towards the excluded students.

  • Case 20 - The Online Discussion related to US National Anthem Refusal Controversies (Year: 2019).

In 2019, TVB news had made a report about a kid being prosecuted for refusing to sing the US National Anthem. The report was widely circulated by many pro-Beijing Internet users and online news platforms. Some of the users and pro-Beijing lawmakers further distorted the news report. They also took the opportunities to condemn Joshua Wong and other pro-democracy activists for worshiping the US, while the US also had similar legislation that Wong has been opposing.

However, the kid was not prosecuted because of refusing to sing the US National Anthem alone. Instead, the official document stated that it was because of his choice to disrupt the classroom, making threats, and resisting the officer’s efforts to leave the classroom.

  • Case 21 - United States Government’s Ban on Huawei (Year: 2019).

Since late 2018, there has been a trade war between China and the US. During the trade war, Huawei, who was a flagship technological company in China, had become the focal point. The US Government accused Huawei of being supported by the Beijing Government and being an agent of the Chinese Communist Party. The products of Huawei were said to be including backdoors for Beijing to steal the data. Huawei denied the accusations, and the dispute related to Huawei had fallen into a war of misinformation. Some Internet users in China and Hong Kong had supported Huawei by forwarding the pro-Huawei misinformation and appealing to Chinese nationalism.

  • Case 22 - Speakout.HK Accusation on Charles Mok regarding the Proposal of Grand Bay Area (Year: 2019).

Since 2015, the Beijing government has introduced the proposal of “Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area,” which recommends more intensive collaborations in different areas between the cities in the area. In Hong Kong, the pro-Beijing camp was welcoming the plan. However, the pro-democracy camp was skeptical as they considered it to be an excuse for introducing various measures that may infringe the human right of Hong Kong people.

In February 2019, pro-democracy lawmaker Charles Mok wrote an article warning the government not to surrender the decision-making power of Hong Kong regarding the overall development direction and resource utilization of Hong Kong. In response to the critics of Mok, Speakout Hong Kong, a pro-Beijing online news platform, accused Mok of flipping the stance and opposing without knowing the actual collaboration framework. Indeed, Mok did not fully oppose the collaboration between Hong Kong and other Mainland China cities, but was just showing the concern regarding the human rights maintenance of the “One country, two systems” constitutional principle.

  • Case 23 - Umbrella Revolution – Unfair Judgment Comparison with the US Occupying Wall Street Movement by Wing-yin Wat (Year: 2019).

In 2019, several pro-democracy activists who were leading the Umbrella Revolution were sentenced. In response to the court decision, Wat wrote an article criticizing the unfairness of the court decision. She claimed that Jeffrey Olson, who was the initiators of “Occupying Wall Street” in the United States and an assistant of a US Senator, was jailed for 13 years. Accordingly, she suggested that the local court decision was being too lenient to the pro-democracy activists.

The article and relevant misinformation were circulated around many pro-Beijing Internet users and Websites, such as HKGPao. However, Jeffrey Olson was not the assistant of any US Senator, and he also had his case acquitted.

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Au, C.H., Ho, K.K.W. & Chiu, D.K. The Role of Online Misinformation and Fake News in Ideological Polarization: Barriers, Catalysts, and Implications. Inf Syst Front 24, 1331–1354 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10796-021-10133-9

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