#thisisforschool

Fake news and the use of the internet

The news of politician JD Vance having intercourse with his couch hit X (formerly twitter) like a storm, everyone was talking about it, and everyone had their own theories.

But did he really do that? Or was it fake news?

Fake news is defined by Chu et al (2012) as ‘fabricated news with the purpose of misleading people’ with two essential parts needed: the factual inaccuracies of the information shared, and the intent to mislead audiences.

Two types of false information exist - misinformation which refers to unintentionally misleading information, and disinformation which is intentionally misleading information.

With this knowledge it may still be difficult to decipher whether this story in particular is fake, ignoring the general outlandish nature of the claim (politicians have been known to do peculiar things, such as UK Politician David Cameron being accused of having intercourse with a dead pig head.)

To aid with deciphering, Jaster and Lanius (2018) have their own methods used to deem something as fake news, these being 

Its truth value

Its content

Its distribution channel 

The way in which they are presented 

The intent of the publisher

These are important to consider as the origin of this story is from a twitter account, not the most trustworthy source of news. The original poster included a fake citation within their tweet, as well as following it up with a meme - "signaled that he was joking when he followed up the tweet with… meme." (Liles 2024,) indicating the unserious nature of the tweet.

Vamanu (2019) and Maiba (2021) also have created a criteria for fake news, focusing on linguistic features often present:

Photos or videos - to gain attention 

Emotional or persuasive language

Repetition 

Expressive and colloquial language

Involvement of social groups

Indifference to logical reasoning

One-sided argument

Applying these, the original tweet showcases having a photo, specifically a meme, following it and using expressive/colloquial language - for example the use of fucking instead of intercourse, unlikely for a trustworthy news source.

Snopes is a well known fact checking website with Jordan Liles being the one to tackle this rumour, it was overall deemed as false. The original tweet included a fake citation, immediately indicating that the claim as a whole may be fake. They also noted that this tweet was published the same day that JD Vance was confirmed as running for Vice President, which is significant as Vance’s name would be trending online. As well as this they ensured by reading all available versions of Vance’s memoir, with no mentions of his supposed couch endeavours.  This fake news spread like wildfire throughout twitter, making some believe it as everyone was talking about it. And comedian John Oliver stating ‘If you ask me to draw a man that fucks his couch, 10 times out of 10, I’m drawing this guy,’ (Vanity Fair) of course this added fuel to the fire. Some still believe this claim, showing the power of fake news.

The rivalry that keeps on giving.

#Burrowhead originates from the blending of the last name of the Cincinnati Bengals (Bengals) quarterback Joe Burrow, and the name of the Kansas City Chiefs (Chiefs) home stadium Arrowhead, creating a portmanteau.

A portmanteau is defined as ‘a word or part of a word made by combining the spellings and meanings of two or more other words or word parts’ (Merriam-Webster)

Mike Hilton coined the term burrowhead when being asked about the upcoming game against the Chiefs (ESPN), it has since turned into a well known, well used hashtag within the Bengals community (known as who dey nation.) It is usually used to incite excitement, for trash talk, socialising within the community, and more.

But what does this hashtag do? 

It identifies members of who dey nation, it is often accompanied with photos of Joe Burrow, memes of the Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, and general trash talk. It brings who dey nation together, notably when the Bengals are playing at Arrowhead, or when the Chiefs are having an unsuccessful game (i.e not playing well.) #Burrowhead will begin to circulate on social media websites, mainly on X (formerly twitter,) although it does make appearances on others as well: instagram, facebook, etc.

Adamska (2015) states that hashtags can be used for ‘various social campaigns… sometimes there are more dubious campaigns,’ this is similar to the function of #Burrowhead. This being to bring the fans together, and essentially rub it in the faces of Chiefs fans that Joe Burrow is the only active quarterback to beat Patrick Mahomes on his home turf.

Furthermore, it follows Laucuka’s (2018) assessment that hashtags are used to socialise, this one in particular gets the Bengals community talking, and sometimes fans of other NFL teams get involved - due to the Chiefs being a highly disliked team, and this hashtag being something that very quickly gets on their nerves.

Cunha et al (2011) suggests that hashtags are used to ‘promote specific topics and people’ and ‘for promotion and publicity.’ #Burrowhead conforms to these, with the hashtag itself being promotion for Joe Burrow, bringing attention to him and the 2022 game in which the Bengals won, sending the team to the coveted Super Bowl. This hashtag promotes discussions surrounding whether Mahomes truly is a good quarterback, or does he just have multiple factors working in his favour? This was questioned further following the Chiefs' performance against the Philadelphia Eagles in this year's Super bowl.

In terms of Tagg 2015’s metafunctions #Burrowhead showcases the interpersonal aspect, showing affiliation to the Cincinnati Bengals, it is often used in a textual way - helping the community to search relevant tweets and is used as punctuation within their tweets. And finally it is ideational, it indicates that anything following will be in reference to the Bengals and Chiefs rivalry.

Overall, #Burrowhead perfectly demonstrates the functions of a hashtag, bringing a community together, allowing them to connect in new ways and share their thoughts and affiliations.