Communications of the ACM
Who Shares the Most Fake News?
Researchers at the University of Colorado, Boulder, determined that Facebook promulgates more fake news than Twitter.
Credit: CU Boulder Today
A study by University of Colorado, Boulder (CU Boulder) researchers determined that Facebook promulgates more fake news than Twitter, which is most likely to be spread by liberal-conservative extremists.
The team enlisted 783 Facebook and Twitter users over 18 years old, and collected their posts over a period of about two years.
The researchers then analyzed who shared content from 106 websites identified as fake news or countermedia, estimating that 1,152 fake news items were shared through Facebook and 128 countermedia items were shared via Twitter.
About 20% of users at the far ideological extremes shared nearly half of the misinformation on the two platforms, while users in the middle of the ideological range and those with high levels of media and social trust were least likely to share fake news.
CU Boulder's Toby Hopp says the research could help in the formulation of anti-misinformation strategies.
From CU Boulder Today
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