Social Media Response to Fake News

With Fake News prominence online, social media platforms have begun enforcing measures to detect and combat the spread of misinformation and disinformation.

Social Media Algorithms to Detect Fake News

Many social media platforms have their own algorithm to detect and remove Fake News. The idea behind many of them are similar: using template 'Fake News' articles as an example and finding correlations between them and the data being studied (Azevedo, 2020).

The use of algorithms is not entirely trusted by the public. In a study conducted among US adults about the use of algorithms to detect false information, 38% believe it is a good idea, 31% believe it is a bad idea and 30% are unsure about its usage (Raine et al., 2021).

Some people believe algorithms are beneficial, while others think it is censorship and only worsening the authenticity of information spread online.

Study by Pew Research Centre if use of algorithms to detect Fake News has been a good idea or bad idea for society.

(Raine et al., 2021)

Are these Fake News Detection Tools Working?

The algorithms and tools used by social media vary in their ability to moderate Fake News content when it arises.

EU warning to CEO of X Elon Musk.

Elon Musk has frequently been criticised for poor preventative measures on his platform X tackling the emergence of misleading information. Recently the European Union threatened to fine the CEO 6% of his platforms revenue if he did not enforce an appropriate response against false information on the Hamas attack on Israel (O'Carroll, 2023).

Similarly the EU wrote to Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg demanding he immediately enforced similar measures to tackle the spread of Fake News (Gregory and Gerken, 2023).

Fake News and deepfaked content is only becoming more common across many of these platforms, and the current measures by social media are not excellent in responding to it. Therefore it is important that media consumers have the tools to combat and detect it.

Reference List

Azevedo, L. (2020) 'How to beat fake news with algorithms', RTE, 2 Sep, available: https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2019/0125/1025444-how-to-beat-fake-news-with-algorithms/ [accessed 17 April 2024]
Raine, L., Funk, C., Anderson, M. and Tyson, A. (2022) 'Mixed views about social media companies using algorithms to find false information', Pew Research Center, 17 Mar, available: https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2022/03/17/mixed-views-about-social-media-companies-using-algorithms-to-find-false-information/ [accessed 17 April 2024]
O'Carroll, L. (2023) 'EU warns Elon Musk over ‘disinformation’ on X about Hamas attack', The Guardian, 11 Oct, available: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/oct/10/eu-warns-elon-musk-over-disinformation-about-hamas-attack-on-x [accessed 17 April 2024]
Gregory, J. and Gerken, T. (2023) 'EU tells Meta to crack down on Israel-Hamas disinfo', BBC, 11 Oct, available: EU tells Meta to crack down on Israel-Hamas disinfo (bbc.com) [accessed 17 April 2024]

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