How might we use the Global Quotation Graph to track global public commentary about mis/disinformation? In short, to compile a list of statements in which those words were mentioned somewhere in the quote?
Using BigQuery we can run a simple query like this to identify the top 10,000 most cited statements in English language online coverage since the start of this year, along with a randomly selected URL in which each appeared:
SELECT min(url) url, min(title) title, max(quotes.pre) pre, quotes.quote quote, max(quotes.post) post, count(1) count FROM `gdelt-bq.gdeltv2.gqg`, UNNEST(quotes) quotes WHERE DATE(date) >= "2021-01-01" and lang='ENGLISH' and ( LOWER(quotes.quote) like '%misinformation%' OR LOWER(quotes.quote) like '%disinformation%' OR LOWER(quotes.quote) like '%fake news%' OR LOWER(quotes.quote) like '%influence operation%' OR LOWER(quotes.quote) like '%propaganda%') group by quotes.quote order by count desc LIMIT 10000
Remember that this is just the list of the quotes that appeared most frequently in their entirety – shortened versions will count as their own. In all, 26,269 English language statements were found using this naive set of simple keywords. In a real application one would use a much broader set of keywords.
You can download the results below as a CSV file:
Here is an example of some of the statements it finds, showing the power of this simple application. We're hopeful this inspires you to think of creative new ways the Global Quotation Graph can be used to track the global discourse around some of the most important topics of today. (Scroll to the right using the scrollbar at the bottom of the table to see the entire table).
| Row | url | title | pre | quote | post | count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
http://africa.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202101/14/WS5fff7e9ea31024ad0baa270e.html
|
"Fact-Checkers" Proposed For Nobel Peace Prize
|
allegations of Russian intervention in the 2016 presidential election
|
fake news
|
—potentially including irksome criticism from opponents.
|
1868
|
|
| 2 |
http://english.sina.com/world/as/2021-01-18/detail-ikftpnnx8837832.shtml
|
'Go to the Hospitals': Fauci Challenges Trump's Claim of Exaggerated COVID Deaths
|
we've had no insults yet. no meltdowns. no smears of the
|
fake news.
|
The violence at the Capitol showed the dangerous consequences of false
|
675
|
|
| 3 |
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nation-world/ct-nw-trump-twitter-suspended-20210107-labnvknuv5alxduavcb5mgmhum-story.html
|
'Could be locked indefinitely': After Capitol violence, Facebook bans Donald Trump's account till end of his term
|
said Ms. Grygiel.
|
We didn't just see a breach at the Capitol. Social media platforms have been breached by the president repeatedly. This is disinformation. This was a coup attempt in the United States.
|
379
|
||
| 4 |
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nation-world/ct-nw-trump-twitter-suspended-20210107-labnvknuv5alxduavcb5mgmhum-story.html
|
'Could be locked indefinitely': After Capitol violence, Facebook bans Donald Trump's account till end of his term
|
for the need for greater regulation of social media.
|
Social media is complicit in this because he has repeatedly used social media to incite violence. It's a culmination of years of propaganda and abuse of media by the president of the United States.
|
375
|
||
| 5 |
http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/398345.aspx
|
'Could be locked indefinitely': After Capitol violence, Facebook bans Donald Trump's account till end of his term
|
the Anti-Defamation League said in a statement.
|
More than anything, what is happening right now at the Capitol is a direct result of the fear and disinformation that has been spewed consistently from the Oval Office.
|
?
|
362
|
|
| 6 |
http://africa.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202101/09/WS5ff8e4d9a31024ad0baa1792.html
|
'Basta! Enough!' Geraldo accuses voters skeptical of Biden win of being suckers for 'propaganda'
|
Turkey has also dismissed as
|
propaganda
|
— the very thing VOA was established to counter in foreign countries.
|
326
|
|
| 7 |
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nation-world/ct-nw-capitol-mob-police-military-20210115-gnyte3i6vrhpnfz6klgdonrpta-story.html
|
'Ranger file': How ex-military, cops among mob used training to storm Capitol
|
official work can support their extramural extremism, even drive it.
|
Many have specialized training, some have seen combat, and nearly all have been fed disinformation and propaganda from illegitimate sources,
|
Harrell said.
|
294
|
|
| 8 |
http://www.baltimoresun.com/coronavirus/ct-nw-covid-19-deaths-january-6-20210107-a3d3nn4tvfdwhnpyb2tqjyqquq-story.html
|
'The US lost control': America records its most ever Covid-19 deaths in a day
|
We did consider the possibility of active disinformation and using a pandemic for political gain,
|
Toner said.
|
248
|
||
| 9 |
http://www.bjreview.com.cn/./Opinion/Pacific_Dialogue/202101/t20210115_800232728.html
|
'Franglais' on the Rise, Say French Language Watchdogs
|
Whenever Trump fought back against what he called
|
fake news,
|
while some Republicans want to take away their rights for any content
|
233
|
|
| 10 |
http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2021/01/07/2021010700412.html
|
"That page doesn't exist." Welcome to life without Trump's tweets
|
Trump uses the same playbook when he attacks the
|
fake news media
|
. He also makes a link between
|
227
|
|
| 11 |
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/commentary/20210105/roger-hunter-not-spreading-any-misinformation-covid-19-drs-andrew
|
"It Wasn't A Hoax": What Really Happened At The Brooklyn Army Terminal Vaccination Site
|
YouTube has removed hundreds of evidentiary videos and flagged as
|
misinformation
|
— or no information!
|
226
|
|
| 12 |
http://www.bradfordera.com/news/nation/fury-at-the-shaken-capitol-over-the-attack-security-virus/article_f8a858ac-b25c-5af6-a31c-1a50eece5ce4.html
|
Congresswoman accuses colleagues of giving 'reconnaissance' tours ahead of Capitol riot
|
McCarthy
|
amplified the president's disinformation about widescale election fraud,
|
former Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., who often clashed with Trump, said in
|
176
|
|
| 13 |
http://historynewsnetwork.org/article/178848
|
Biden Revokes Trump Report Promoting "Patriotic Education" | History News Network
|
said David Blight, a civil war historian at Yale University.
|
That report is a piece of right-wing propaganda.
|
174
|
||
| 14 |
http://www.arabtimesonline.com/news/screen-actors-guild-may-discipline-expel-donald-trump/
|
Plot to blow up 9/11 Memorial | News, Sports, Jobs
|
the guild said, are for Trump's role in the Capitol riot on January 6,
|
and in sustaining a reckless campaign of misinformation aimed at discrediting and ultimately threatening the safety of journalists, many of whom are SAG-AFTRA members.
|
If found guilty by a disciplinary committee, Trump faces expulsion. Trump
|
170
|
|
| 15 |
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nation-world/ct-nw-biden-1776-commission-report-20210121-sdiodnww35ggngavtgw5tbfj6a-story.html
|
1776 Report: Here We Go Again With This…
|
He added:
|
But it's worse than that, because it comes out of an agenda of political propaganda.
|
The authors argue that the civil rights movement was distorted to advance
|
168
|
|
| 16 |
http://africa.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202101/09/WS5ff8e4d9a31024ad0baa1792.html
|
'Disinformation can be a very lucrative business, especially if you're good at it,' media scholar says
|
While the call to ban
|
disinformation
|
—meaning
|
150
|
|
| 17 |
http://www.ccenterdispatch.com/news/national/article_78b5f795-1617-509f-9cfa-c16f9e780921.html
|
VOA Reporter Abruptly Pulled from Beat for Questions (Video)
|
In his speech on Monday, Pompeo said that
|
it's not fake news for you to broadcast that this is the greatest nation in the history of the world.
|
He said he backed their role as journalists, but said the agency was not
|
144
|