Using Machine Learning Models to Detect Fake News, Bots, and Rumors on Social Media

abstract: In this paper, I introduce the fake news problem and detail how it has been exacerbated through social media. I explore current practices for fake news detection using natural language processing and current benchmarks in ranking the efficacy of various language models. Using a Twitter-specific benchmark, I attempt to reproduce the scores of six language models demonstrating their effectiveness in seven tweet classification tasks. I explain the successes and challenges in reproducing these results and provide analysis for the future implications of fake news research. (abstract