Fake news travels six times quicker on Facebook than actual news

Hundreds of content-sharing sites that frequently post on Facebook have been scrutinized by two foreign institutions.

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According to their research, half-truths and deceptive posts are easy to spot among reliable and credible material, giving them a better opportunity to spread harmful viewpoints. There’s nothing to be concerned about, according to Facebook.

The proliferation of fake news on social media is not harmless, as evidenced by reputable test results: hundreds of people died in the first year of the coronavirus pandemic because they believed half-truths on Facebook, among other things. Two higher education institutions, the University of New York and the University of Grenoble-Alpes in France, launched research not expressly for this purpose but because of the subject’s importance.

According to results validated by external specialists, a post distributed for deception can garner six times as much attention (comment, reaction) on Facebook as a factual news story. Between August and January of this year, the researchers looked at 2,500 news-sharing sites on Facebook. According to The Washington Post, the findings also revealed that right-wing content creators were considerably more likely to share such pieces.

The study drew Facebook’s attention, but it didn’t pique their interest. They cautioned that the investigation did not uncover anything within reach and that this was the true objective. This graph depicts the number of people who view the information in the News Feed.

However, the study discovered only a limited amount of evidence that users responded to postings containing incorrect information, at least during the study period, by commenting on or liking the post, for example.

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On the other hand, Facebook is not involved in making access data available to other parties (say, researchers). According to the Washington Post, these could have been approximated using a gadget called CrowdTangle, but this is no longer viable. The application is owned by Facebook, which explains the phenomenon.

Following the Cambridge Analytica debacle, it implemented several restrictions on third-party software, including CrowdTangle’s use. Facebook is also quick to point out that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has ruled against them, claiming that they have no choice but to follow the law.

On the other hand, the US body does not consider the situation serious, and the company claims that it does not adequately cover reality.