A Machine Learning Analysis of the Features in Deceptive and Credible News

Abstract: Fake news is a type of pervasive propaganda that spreads misinformation online, taking advantage of social media's extensive reach to manipulate public perception. Over the past three years, fake news has become a focal discussion point in the media due to its impact on the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Fake news can have severe real-world implications: in 2016, a man walked into a pizzeria carrying a rifle because he read that Hillary Clinton was harboring children as sex slaves. This project presents a high accuracy (87%) machine learning classifier that determines the validity of news based on the word distributions and specific linguistic and stylistic differences in the first few sentences of an article. This can help readers identify the validity of an article by looking for specific features in the opening lines aiding them in making informed decisions. Using a dataset of 2,107 articles from 30 different websites, this project establishes an understanding of the variations between fake and credible news by examining the model, dataset, and features. This classifier appears to use the differences in word distribution, levels of tone authenticity, and frequency of adverbs, adjectives, and nouns. The differentiation in the features of these articles can be used to improve future classifiers. This classifier can also be further applied directly to browsers as a Google Chrome extension or as a filter for social media outlets or news websites to reduce the spread of misinformation.