The study found that the participation rate of Facebook misinformation posts is 6 times that of real news

New study from Facebook. Get details here.

Wednesday, 8th September 2021

A new study found that, compared to real news sources, Facebook users liked, shared, and interacted with misinformation posts on the platform six times more than real news sources. The Washington Post reported for the first time that the research was conducted by researchers from New York University (NYU) and the University of the Alps in Grenoble. The researchers reviewed posts posted on more than 2,500 Facebook pages from August 2020 to January 2021.

"This research helps supplement the growing evidence that despite various mitigation measures, misinformation has found a comfortable home and an engaged audience on Facebook, "the report cited data from George Washington University, Democracy In the words of Rebekah Tromble, director of the Institute for Political Studies, reviewed the results of the study.

A spokesperson for Facebook said the engagement should not be confused with the number of people who viewed Facebook posts. "This report focuses on how people interact with content and should not be confused with how many people actually see it on Facebook," said Facebook spokesman Joe Osborne. "When you look at the content that has the biggest impact on Facebook, it's completely different from what this research shows."

US President Joe Biden said in July that social media platforms like Facebook allow misinformation about the Covid vaccine to spread and "kill." When interacting with the media, Biden directly criticized Facebook. When asked to post to social media platforms like Facebook, he replied: "They are killing people ... Our only epidemic is unvaccinated people. They are killing people."

Also Read: Twitter tests new features to allow users to remove followers without blocking.

Facebook announced in May that it would delete all posts from users who repeatedly shared misinformation and false content on its platform because it extended the fact-checking process to people from homepages, groups, Instagram accounts, and domains. After allegations of Russian intervention in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Facebook received the attention of global policymakers for the first time.

Last month, Facebook banned more than 300 false information accounts that claimed that the Covid19 vaccine from AstraZeneca and Pfizer would turn humans into chimpanzees. According to reports, these accounts are related to the Russian disinformation network, mainly targeting users in India, Latin America, and the United States.

The News Talkie Bureau

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Indiatoday