The human component in social media and fake news: the performance of UK opinion leaders on Twitter during the Brexit campaign

Ever since David Cameron announced the UK’s EU referendum in February 2016, discussions about Fake News during Brexit campaign have been thriving and sparking debates on role of social media run-up to Brexit. So far, research this topic has mainly focused automatic spread false information, through bots, for example. Building assumption that political leaders accounted as well, my analysis adds a human component: I screened more than 1400 tweets posted by Cameron, Jeremy Corbyn, Boris Johnson Nigel Farage campaign. Using fact-checking platforms, verified each leader’s top three arguments Remain or Leave. As results show, some turned out be part epidemic surrounding Brexit: shared multiple were clearly misleading, while Corbyn mostly stuck facts (although their points speculative). Furthermore, provides insights into prevalent used respective performance Twitter general.