As election season sneaks up on us in the U.S., the journal Science published two studies that help us understand what happened online during the last presidential race. Mainly, how does misinformation spread, and how much does it impact the way we think?
One such study found that misinformation on social media does really change minds. Particularly in the case of the COVID-19 vaccine, when social platforms like Facebook and Twitter adequately labeled inaccurate information as being misleading, they didn’t spread as much. But when such content evaded detection, it could reach and influence tens of millions of users.
The second study got a bit more spicy. These researchers studied the activity of over 660,000 U.S. voters on Twitter, finding that only about 2,100 users spread 80% of the “fake news” during the 2020 election. Demographically, that cohort was predominantly older, white Republican women.
These studies came at a good time – we’re gearing up for our next presidential election season, where social media is bound to play a role once again. Don’t believe everything you read on the internet, folks.
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