October 17, 2022 – Twitter and TikTok are most likely to amplify misinformation online, a new study has found.
The report, titled Misinformation Amplification Analysis and Tracking Dashboard, was released by advocacy group Integrity Institute last week. It highlights the role of social media sites in boosting lies and false information and aims to ascertain which social media platforms are more likely to amplify misinformation.
Facebook was found to have the largest volume of posts spreading misinformation, but content based on lies spreads faster on platforms such as Twitter and TikTok through their “retweet” feature and machine learning models that predict user engagement for content recommendations.
“We see a difference for each platform because each platform has different mechanisms for virality on it,” said Jeff Allen, the chief research officer at the Integrity Institute (formerly integrity officer at Facebook). “The more mechanisms there are for virality on the platform, the more we see misinformation getting additional distribution.”
One reason misleading content does not spread on Facebook as widely as on Twitter and TikTok is because sharing a post on Facebook entails more steps compared to other social media platforms, according to the analysis. Facebook’s video content, however, has a serious amplification problem as both Facebook Watch and Reels “rely heavily on algorithmic content recommendations”.
Instagram, also owned by Facebook’s parent company Meta, was found to have the lowest amplification rate for misinformation. YouTube, on the other hand, featured no significant estimate in the findings due to a lack of sufficient data.
“Amplification of misinformation can rise around critical events if misinformation narratives take hold,” the report states. “It can also fall, if platforms implement design changes around the event that reduce the spread of misinformation.”
The Integrity Institute’s analysis will be updated weekly, tracking how misinformation is amplified on major social media platforms and whether they are taking any effective measures to curb misleading information, especially ahead of the US midterm elections.
