The two platforms are, for different reasons, a particularly fertile ground for false information, reveals the “New York Times”.
By ThePoint.fr
© ALI BALIKCI / ANADOLU AGENCY / ALI BALIKCI/Anadolu Agency via AFP
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Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, Telegram or Snapchat have been fertile ground for mass misinformation for several years, especially since the pandemic. But of all these platforms, Twitter and TikTok are the most conducive to spreading misinformation, according to a study by advocacy group Integrity Institute revealed by the New York Times and reported by our colleagues from BFMTV.
The objective of the study was to measure the extent to which different platforms spread and amplify false information in the run-up to the midterm elections on November 8 in the United States. Thus we learn that a “well-crafted lie” will potentially obtain greater success than verified information and that the algorithms of certain platforms contribute greatly to this phenomenon.
“The amplification of misinformation can also decrease”
Twitter and its sharing system (via retweets) appear, according to the study, as the biggest factor in the spread of false information. The Chinese social network TikTok comes in second place, in particular because of its system which makes it possible to predict the contents which will obtain the most engagements and which uses this information to recommend videos to each user. “The more virality mechanisms there are on the platform, the more we see misinformation getting further airplay,” says Jeff Allen, once head of integrity at Facebook before founding the Integrity Institute.
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But the study believes that with the will, the platforms concerned are able to fight against the phenomenon. “The amplification of disinformation can also decrease, if platforms implement design changes around an event that reduce the spread of disinformation”, underlines the study, which also intends to observe the YouTube platform and update update its data until the next election.