AI is making disinformation harder to spot – but we’ve found a new way to catch it

The Conversation · 🇦🇺 public Australia · Aug 07, 2026 · 929 words · By Kateryna Krykoniuk; Seán Roberts

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What to know about AI is making disinformation harder to spot – but we’ve found a new way to catch it

The article describes a new research-based approach to detecting online disinformation by analyzing whether comments attempt to derail conversations rather than focusing on linguistic markers of AI. The authors explain their methodology of using AI to identify 'red herrings' and 'non sequiturs' in YouTube comments, while acknowledging the system's limitations and ethical considerations.

Propaganda risk 10%

Claims checked 8

Techniques found 0

Topics 0

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage

Left0%

Center100%

Right0%

6 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

Do you ever see comments on social media that seem way off topic, but still manage to wrench the discussion around to divisive political debate?

Why it matters

A discussion about the cost of living suddenly becomes an argument about immigration.

Common ground

A conversation about the war in Ukraine turns into claims about government corruption.

Perspective signals

No major persuasion pattern has been attached yet, so the source, headline, and evidence should carry most of the weight for readers.

Follow-up questions

What concrete event or decision sits underneath the headline: AI is making disinformation harder to spot – but we’ve found a new way to catch it?
What evidence would most clearly confirm or weaken the claim that patterns like use of em-dashes and the word “delve” used to be telltale signs of a text being generated by AI?
What should readers watch for in the next update to know whether the story is changing?

open_in_new Read the original article: https://theconversation.com/ai-is-making-disinformation-harder-to-spot-but-weve-…

analyticsAnalysis

10%

Propaganda Score

confidence: 95%

Low risk. This article shows minimal use of propaganda techniques.

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 8 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

info Single Source 4

verified Verified By Reference 3

check_circle Corroborated 1

info

Claim 1: “patterns like use of em-dashes and the word “delve” used to be telltale signs of a text being generated by AI”

SINGLE SOURCE

The provided evidence for this claim consists of dictionary definitions for the word 'USE' and does not mention em-dashes or the word 'delve' as AI indicators.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — 5 days ago · The meaning of USE is to put into action or service : avail oneself of : employ —often used with for; often followed by to + a verb. How to use use in a sentence.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/use

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — USE definition: 1. to put something such as a tool, skill, or building to a particular purpose: 2. to reduce the…. Learn more.
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/use

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — As a noun use means "purpose." As a verb, use means either "put to work," or "work something until there isn't anything left," unless you use your friend, meaning you exploit her.
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/use

verified

Claim 2: “We manually analysed more than 1,600 comments under BBC News videos, labelling them according to 25 different features of online discussion”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

The evidence provided consists of general definitions of research and Wikipedia entries for BBC and YouTube; there is no evidence confirming the manual analysis of 1,600 comments with 25 features.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. Th…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_News

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — YouTube is an American online video-sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Chad Hurley, Jawed Karim, and Steve Chen who were all former employees at PayPal. He…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YouTube

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — YouTube Shorts is the short-form section of the American online video-sharing platform YouTube. YouTube Shorts are short form vertical videos that have a duration of up to three minutes, and has vario…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YouTube_Shorts

+ 3 more evidence sources

info

Claim 3: “In our second study, the system correctly identified derailing comments around 77% of the time.”

SINGLE SOURCE

The specific statistic (77% accuracy in a second study) is reported by a single source (Mindplex). Other results are irrelevant (e.g., a painting tutorial).

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — The is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is th…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The is the definite article in English. The, or THE, may also refer to:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_(disambiguation)

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Impossible (Spanish: Lo imposible) is a 2012 English-language Spanish biographical disaster drama film directed by J. A. Bayona and written by Sergio G. Sánchez. It is based on the experience of M…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Impossible_(2012_film)

+ 3 more evidence sources

verified

Claim 4: “We analysed comments posted beneath BBC News videos on YouTube”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

While Wikipedia confirms the existence of BBC News and YouTube, none of the provided evidence confirms that these specific researchers analyzed comments on BBC News YouTube videos.

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+ 3 more evidence sources

info

Claim 5: “our approach performed around twice as well as existing systems based on word-level sentiment analysis”

SINGLE SOURCE

The evidence provided discusses sentiment analysis in general terms but does not mention the researchers' specific approach or the claim that it performed twice as well as word-level systems.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Sentiment analysis has been a hot research topic in natural language processing and data mining fields in the last decade. Recently, deep neural network (DNN) models are being applied to sentiment ana…
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/376826741_Predictin…

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web search NEUTRAL — In contrast to sentence-level sentiment analysis, aspect-based sentiment analysis is an approach implemented to realise fine-grained sentiment analysis, in addition to the detection of an entity polar…
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10300332/

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web search NEUTRAL — Recent sentiment analysis research has focused on the functional relations of words using typed dependency parsing, providing a refined analysis on the grammar and semantics of textual data.
https://www.academia.edu/36769780/Polarity_analysis_of_texts…

info

Claim 6: “Many campaigns relied on people writing in a second language. So, posts sometimes contained grammatical mistakes or unusual word choices.”

SINGLE SOURCE

The specific claim about disinformation campaigns relying on second-language writers resulting in grammatical mistakes is only found in one source (Mindplex). Other sources discuss disinformation generally but not this specific linguistic pattern.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Many campaigns relied on people writing in a second language. So, posts sometimes contained grammatical mistakes or unusual word choices. Detection systems could look for these patterns in the languag…
https://magazine.mindplex.ai/post/ai-is-making-disinformatio…

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web search NEUTRAL — Quality journalism and honest reporting bring crucial facts to the public. But, in numerous cases, “media” (whether self-depicted or registered) have played a role in producing and distributing disinf…
https://www.disinfo.eu/publications/the-role-of-media-in-pro…

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — The notion of disinformation often brings to mind easy-to-spot propaganda peddled by totalitarian states, but the reality is much more complex. Though disinformation does serve an agenda, it is often …
https://theconversation.com/disinformation-campaigns-are-mur…

verified

Claim 7: “We found that 36% of derailing messages had red herrings, 65% had leaps in logic known as “non sequiturs”, and 20% contained personal attacks.”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

The provided evidence for this claim is entirely irrelevant, focusing on the game 'Among Us' and a heavy metal album, rather than the statistics of derailing messages.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Among Us is a 2018 online multiplayer social deduction game developed and published by the American game studio Innersloth. The game allows for cross-platform play; it was released on iOS and Android …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Among_Us

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Among the Living is the third studio album by American heavy metal band Anthrax. It was released on March 22, 1987, by Megaforce Records in the US and by Island Records in the rest of the world. The a…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Among_the_Living

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Aug 10, 2026 · Use the new Match Info Guide so you can keep track of players, roles, and match settings during a game. The Detective's Interrogate ability now has a cooldown after Emergency Meetings. …
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.innersloth…

+ 2 more evidence sources

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Claim 8: “malicious groups are increasingly using [generative AI] to produce and spread disinformation online”

CORROBORATED

Multiple independent web sources confirm that malicious groups are using generative AI to produce and spread disinformation/misinformation.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Malicious groups are increasingly using generative AI to produce and spread misinformation.As AI-generated content becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish from human writing, detecting disinform…
https://magazine.mindplex.ai/post/ai-is-making-disinformatio…

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Through its ability to create new content (e.g., text, video, audio) based on existing data that can infringe on copyright protections or even mimic real footage to spread disinformation, much attenti…
https://www.civilaffairsassociation.com/post/sounding-the-al…

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — You built a generative AI tool right into Google Earth and pulled it days later because people immediately used it to fake bomb craters in Gaza, a nuclear plant in Iran, and refugee crowds at the Mexi…
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/javierbargas_what-the-hell-wa…

info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.