Far-right misinformation gets by far the most engagement on Facebook, study says
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Re: Far-right misinformation gets by far the most engagement on Facebook, study says
#2My theory about this:
Everyone seeks information that validates them and supports the things they already want to believe.
People with mostly mainstream views can get that validation anywhere: academic studies, cable news, newspapers, friends, coworkers, etc.
For example, I know that climate change is happening and can easily consume info that fits my reality.
For the far-right, social media is the only place to find that, because major institutions mostly refuse to say it out loud. So of course their engagement is high, because they crave the validation and feeling that they "aren't alone" in their extreme beliefs.
Re: Far-right misinformation gets by far the most engagement on Facebook, study says
#3My theory about this: Everyone seeks information that validates them and supports the things they already want to believe. People with mostly mainstream views can get that validation anywhere: academic studies, cable news, newspapers, friends, coworkers, etc. For example, I know that climate change is happening and can easily consume info that fits my reality. For the far-right, social media is the only place to find…
Interesting hypothesis
Re: Far-right misinformation gets by far the most engagement on Facebook, study says
#4My theory about this: Everyone seeks information that validates them and supports the things they already want to believe. People with mostly mainstream views can get that validation anywhere: academic studies, cable news, newspapers, friends, coworkers, etc. For example, I know that climate change is happening and can easily consume info that fits my reality. For the far-right, social media is the only place to find…
That is not true about everyone though. Everyone does it sometimes in some places, but it’s important to recognise that some groups of people have been able to build self-critical institutions and regularly consume information that challenges their own views.
Left institutions are somewhat famous for self-criticism (“the left eats its own”). Left media, such as The Ezra Klein Show, regularly has right wing people on the show and it has a wonk liberal host.
I sought out animal rights philosophy when I ate lots of meat (and I’ve now stopped). I’ve read Hayek, Barry Goldwater’s Conscience of a Conservative (Bozell actually wrote it), and Peter Thiel, and I’m on the left.
It is not true that everyone is the same in their information seeking activities, nor true that all institutions act as captured servants of some validation-seeking audience.
Re: Far-right misinformation gets by far the most engagement on Facebook, study says
#5My theory about this: Everyone seeks information that validates them and supports the things they already want to believe. People with mostly mainstream views can get that validation anywhere: academic studies, cable news, newspapers, friends, coworkers, etc. For example, I know that climate change is happening and can easily consume info that fits my reality. For the far-right, social media is the only place to find…
>because major institutions mostly refuse to say it out loud
because most of the actual content of far-right echo chambers is insane. Let's be real for a second the reason why this happens:
> [...]"Every other type of news outlet suffers a "misinformation penalty" if they share false information. The analysis found that in the far left, slightly left, and center categories, credible stories saw between two and five times as much engagement as fake news. On the far-right, however, misinformation received 426 interactions per thousand followers in an average week, while credible far-right information received only 259 engagements[...]"
is because the average far-right reader is, to put it bluntly, kind of stupid. Can you imagine what the average Economist reader thinks if the Economist were to publish "the earth is hollow, Bill Gates is a lizard, MAGA!".
This has nothing to do with 'major institutions', it's to do with the people who consume far-right content. I guess if you want to start to talk about solutions, you would have to stop to be politically correct, ironically enough a major demand of the far-right, and stop trying to pretend the consumers of this content are equal in their ability to critically process information.
Re: Far-right misinformation gets by far the most engagement on Facebook, study says
#6That might also point to the tendency of the left to report things that they do not agree with as misinformation.
And Fb like many other institutions are filled with "liberal" or the virtue signaling generation.
Re: Far-right misinformation gets by far the most engagement on Facebook, study says
#7The links to an article that links to another article that links to a medium post. Better source: https://medium.com/cybersecurity-for-democracy/far-right-new...
Considering the clear bias of the authors, their findings are not surprising, and I suspect that folks on the right would disagree with their classifications. Classifying "misinformation" in a non-partisan way is not a straightforward task at all.
They also seem to be grouping things by source, not by article. They appear to decide something is a "misinformation source", and then count everything coming from that outlet as misinformation.
Re: Far-right misinformation gets by far the most engagement on Facebook, study says
#8My theory about this: Everyone seeks information that validates them and supports the things they already want to believe. People with mostly mainstream views can get that validation anywhere: academic studies, cable news, newspapers, friends, coworkers, etc. For example, I know that climate change is happening and can easily consume info that fits my reality. For the far-right, social media is the only place to find…
>because major institutions mostly refuse to say it out loud because most of the actual content of far-right echo chambers is insane. Let's be real for a second the reason why this happens: > [...]"Every other type of news outlet suffers a "misinformation penalty" if they share false information. The analysis found that in the far left, slightly left, and center categories, credible stories saw between two and five t…
Re: Far-right misinformation gets by far the most engagement on Facebook, study says
#9when I see "far-right" or "far-left" in the title it's an immediate indication of the author's political bias.
who gets to define what's true or false these days when mainstream media is broadcasting politically motivated lies presented as truths 24/7?
And facts are routinely being labeled "misinformation" because they don't fit some political agenda.
This "study" is a complete waste of time.
Re: Far-right misinformation gets by far the most engagement on Facebook, study says
#10My theory about this: Everyone seeks information that validates them and supports the things they already want to believe. People with mostly mainstream views can get that validation anywhere: academic studies, cable news, newspapers, friends, coworkers, etc. For example, I know that climate change is happening and can easily consume info that fits my reality. For the far-right, social media is the only place to find…
>because major institutions mostly refuse to say it out loud because most of the actual content of far-right echo chambers is insane. Let's be real for a second the reason why this happens: > [...]"Every other type of news outlet suffers a "misinformation penalty" if they share false information. The analysis found that in the far left, slightly left, and center categories, credible stories saw between two and five t…
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