Facebook found as big conduit of fake news during 2020 election
The study relied on three online surveys: two before the presidential election between incumbent Donald Trump and challenger Joe Biden, and one after the election of actual voters.
Users of Facebook were found most likely to be reading fake news about the 2020 U.S. election than users of any other social media platform, according to a new study by Washington State University.
“Facebook was by far the main social media website where people were likely to read fake news,” said the study, reported by U.S. TV station KGW8 on Monday.
The study relied on three online surveys: two before the presidential election between incumbent Donald Trump and challenger Joe Biden, and one after the election of actual voters, said the report, adding the report shows fake news consumption and political persuasion were “the primary forces driving doubt in the integrity of the vote counting process.”
“The algorithms were used to confirm people’s biases that they wanted to believe and the more they read these bias-reinforcing websites the more likely they were to feel like, ‘yeah, I believe it because I’m reading it in these news articles,” Washington State University Associate Professor and Study Co-Author Robert Crossler was quoted as saying.
