"Fake news" shows up in liberal and conservative social circles on the web. But why do we share misinformation?
Researchers analyzed 50,000 pairs of U.S. Twitter users and the fake or politically-biased information they shared between August and December of 2020. Results found Twitter users were less likely to socialize with one another if one did not share fake news posted by the other account.
Those who were more concerned about fitting in were more likely to share a friend's fake news tweets.
This was true for right and left-leaning accounts.
"Political ideology alone doesn’t explain people’s tendency to share fake news within their social groups," researcher Matthew Asher Lawson said. "There are many factors at play, including the very basic desire to fit in and not to be excluded."
No comments:
Post a Comment