Calling Bullshit: The Art of Skepticism in a Data-Driven World

by Carl T. Bergstrom

It is not only new Internet users who are fooled. In December 2016, a website called AWD News published a frightening headline: “Israeli Defense Minister: If Pakistan Send Ground Troops to Syria on Any Pretext, We Will Destroy This Country with a Nuclear Attack.” The story contained several cues that should have tipped off a careful reader. The headline contained grammatical errors (“send” instead of “sends”). The story named the wrong person as the Israeli defense minister.*3 The article sat next to other implausible headlines such as “Clinton Staging Military Coup against Trump.” But it still fooled the person you would least want it to: Khawaja Muhammad Asif, defense minister of Pakistan. Asif responded with a threat of his own via Twitter: “Israeli def min threatens nuclear retaliation presuming pak role in Syria against Daesh…Israel forgets Pakistan is a Nuclear state too.” A single fake news piece led one major power to threaten another with a nuclear attack. It is one thing to mislead the infinitely gullible about Taylor Swift’s latest romance. It is another to tip the globe toward nuclear war.