Electronic message board fact checking

• US 9,886,471 B2
• Filed: 10/28/2015
• Issued: 02/06/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/10/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Myslinski, Lucas J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Baker, Charlotte M
• Application Number:
  US14/925,917
• Publication Number:
  US 20160050221A1
• Time in Patent Office: 832 Days
• Field of Search: 704 9
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/46 Computing the game score
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/79 involving player-related data, e.g. identities, accounts, preferences or play histories
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/795 for finding other players; for building a team; for providing a buddy list
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/828 Managing virtual sport teams
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/95 Storage media specially adapted for storing game information, e.g. video game cartridges
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3065 Monitoring arrangements determined by the means or processing involved in reporting the monitored data error or fault reporting or logging G06F11/0766
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2365 Ensuring data consistency and integrity
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/245 Query processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/248 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/285 Clustering or classification
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/90328 using search space presentation or visualization, e.g. category or range presentation and selection
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/40 Processing or translation of natural language natural language analysis G06F40/20; semantic analysis G06F40/30
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0279 Fundraising management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1408 : by monitoring network traffic monitoring network traffic per se H04L43/00

Abstract

A fact checking system is able to verify the correctness of information and/or characterize information by comparing the information with one or more sources. The fact checking system automatically monitors, processes, fact checks information and indicates a status of the information. Fact checking results are able to be validated by re-fact checking the fact check results.

Claims

1. One or more non-transitory machine-readable media storing instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause:

receiving a post to an electronic message board;

in response to receiving the post, automatically converting, on a first device, at least a portion of the post into fact checkable information;

automatically fact checking, on the first device, the post by comparing the fact checkable information with information from one or more sources to determine factual accuracy of the post;

causing to be automatically provided, on a second device, an indication of fact checking results associated with the post for the electronic message board.

2. The one or more non-transitory machine-readable media of claim 1, wherein the indication indicates a presence of at least one factual inaccuracy in the post.

3. The one or more non-transitory machine-readable media of claim 1, wherein the indication indicates the factual accuracy of the post.

4. The one or more non-transitory machine-readable media of claim 1, wherein causing the indication to be automatically provided comprises visually differentiating a factually inaccurate portion of the post from a factually accurate portion of the post, visually differentiating the post from other posts when the post is deemed to be factually inaccurate, or flagging the post as being factually inaccurate.

5. The one or more non-transitory machine-readable media of claim 1, wherein the post is associated with a user account of the electronic message board, and wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause determining a rating for the user account based on a presence of at least one factual inaccuracy in the post.

6. The one or more non-transitory machine-readable media of claim 5, wherein causing the indication to be automatically provided comprises providing the rating with the post on the electronic message board.

7. The one or more non-transitory machine-readable media of claim 5, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause:

receiving, from a user associated with the user account, a correction to the post deemed to include at least one factual inaccuracy;

increasing the rating in response to receiving the correction.

8. The one or more non-transitory machine-readable media of claim 5, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause:

receiving, from a user associated with the user account, an identification of other posts on the electronic message board that are factually inaccurate or correction of the other posts;

increasing the rating in response to receiving the identification or correction of the other posts that are factually inaccurate.

9. The one or more non-transitory machine-readable media of claim 5, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause preventing future posts by a user associated with the user account on the electronic message board when the rating associated with the user account is at or below a threshold.

10. The one or more non-transitory machine-readable media of claim 9, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause:

determining whether the user is associated with a second user account on the electronic message board;

preventing future posts by the user using the second user account when the rating associated with the user account is at or below the threshold.

11. The one or more non-transitory machine-readable media of claim 5, wherein the electronic message board is a first electronic message board, and wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause:

providing the rating at a second electronic message board that is different than the first electronic message board, wherein the user account is a same user account for each of the first electronic message board and the second electronic message board.

12. The one or more non-transitory machine-readable media of claim 5, wherein determining the rating comprises decreasing the rating for each factual inaccuracy in the post.

13. The one or more non-transitory machine-readable media of claim 5, wherein determining the rating comprises decreasing the rating by one unit when the post includes one or more factual inaccuracies.

14. The one or more non-transitory machine-readable media of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause:

prompting a user submitting the post to provide support for at least one factual inaccuracy detected in the post;

receiving a citation to support the at least one factual inaccuracy in response to prompting the user.

15. The one or more non-transitory machine-readable media of claim 14, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause:

determining whether content corresponding to the citation supports the at least one factual inaccuracy;

if it is determined that the citation supports the at least one factual inaccuracy, posting the post on the electronic message board;

if it is determined that the citation does not support the at least one factual inaccuracy, then not posting the post on the electronic message board.

16. The one or more non-transitory machine-readable media of claim 14, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause:

verifying the citation based on a reliability rating of a source corresponding to the citation;

if the reliability rating of the source is at or below a threshold, then not posting the post on the electronic message board;

if the reliability rating of the source is above the threshold, then posting the post on the electronic message board.

17. The one or more non-transitory machine-readable media of claim 1, wherein fact checking the post comprises classifying the post as a particular content type from among a plurality of content types, and comparing the post with information from one or more sources of a same content type as the particular content type of the post to determine a presence of at least one factual inaccuracy in the post.

18. The one or more non-transitory machine-readable media of claim 17, wherein the particular content type comprises political, factual, hyperbole, sarcasm, bias, opinion, or comedy.

19. The one or more non-transitory machine-readable media of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause:

automatically monitoring the electronic message board for at least one factual inaccuracy in any post of a plurality of posts posted on the electronic message board;

indicating a presence of the at least one factual inaccuracy detected for a particular post from among the plurality of posts.

20. The one or more non-transitory machine-readable media of claim 1, wherein the fact checking and the causing are performed prior to publishing the post on the electronic message board.

21. A computerized method comprising:

receiving a post to an electronic message board;

in response to receiving the post, automatically converting, on a first device, at least a portion of the post into fact checkable information;

automatically fact checking, on the first device, the post by comparing the fact checkable information with information from one or more sources to determine factual accuracy of the post;

causing to be automatically provided, on a second device, an indication of fact checking results associated with the post for the electronic message board;

wherein the method is performed by one or more computing devices.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the indication indicates a presence of at least one factual inaccuracy in the post.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein the indication indicates the factual accuracy of the post.

24. The method of claim 21, wherein causing the indication to be automatically provided comprises visually differentiating a factually inaccurate portion of the post from a factually accurate portion of the post, visually differentiating the post from other posts when the post is deemed to be factually inaccurate, or flagging the post as being factually inaccurate.

25. The method of claim 21, wherein the post is associated with a user account of the electronic message board, and further comprising determining a rating for the user account based on a presence of at least one factual inaccuracy in the post.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein causing the indication to be automatically provided comprises providing the rating with the post on the electronic message board.

27. The method of claim 25, further comprising:

receiving, from a user associated with the user account, a correction to the post deemed to include at least one factual inaccuracy;

increasing the rating in response to receiving the correction.

28. The method of claim 25, further comprising:

receiving, from a user associated with the user account, an identification of other posts on the electronic message board that are factually inaccurate or correction of the other posts;

increasing the rating in response to receiving the identification or correction of the other posts that are factually inaccurate.

29. The method of claim 25, further comprising preventing future posts by a user associated with the user account on the electronic message board when the rating associated with the user account is at or below a threshold.

30. The method of claim 29, further comprising determining whether the user is associated with a second user account on the electronic message board, and preventing future posts by the user using the second user account when the rating associated with the user account is at or below the threshold.