Ways to avoid spreading lies on social media
Ways to avoid spreading lies on social media
Various aspects of social media platforms and how we use them contribute to the unintended spread of misinformation
Sooner or later, even the best-intentioned users of social media end up spreading false or misleading content (often without meaning to). There are several problematic aspects of social media platforms and how they are used that contribute to this state of affairs: exciting information spreads more readily than accurate information, popular aggregator accounts get more traction than journalists and primary sources, users of major social media platforms are bombarded with far more content than can be meaningfully processed, and debate or ridicule of obvious nonsense can spread the nonsense to a wider audience (the Streisand Effect). This article discusses some potential ways of dealing with these issues and reducing one’s likelihood of spreading false information while using social media platforms, with a particular focus on X/Twitter.
Problem 1: Exciting information spreads more readily than accurate information. Content tends to go viral not because it is factual, well sourced, or well researched, but because it triggers an emotional reaction. This state of affairs has a couple of consequences: it results in well-meaning individuals amplifying emotionally impactful content without verifying it, and it also incentivizes those who want to grow their accounts and maximize the reach of their posts to prioritize exciting content over factual information. X/Twitter’s new ad revenue sharing feature exacerbates the situation by financially rewarding those who achieve exceptionally high view counts, and also disincentivizes the deletion of posts that have been debunked, ensuring that misinformation remains on the platform.
There are some steps users can take to mitigate this, including:
Do a couple of searches to determine whether particularly dramatic information is accurate before amplifying
Avoid accounts that regularly refuse to delete or correct debunked posts
Avoid popular accounts that regularly change behavior to maximize impressions or indicate that they are putting significant effort into gaming “the algorithm”
Reverse image search is your friend — images of violence and destruction in particular are often old images or stock photos that have been reused, so use Google, TinEye, or Bing to try to find the source
Problem 2: Popular aggregator accounts get more traction than journalists and primary sources. Social media sites such as X/Twitter are full of content aggregators and “breaking news” accounts that produce little or no original material and engage in little or no journalism of their own, piggybacking instead on the work of actual journalists, creators, and primary sources of information (often without consent). These accounts generally do not fact check the material they reuse, and tend to optimize for engagement and clout rather than accurate reporting.
Methods for countering this include:
When you encounter a post from an aggregator or breaking news account, look for the original source, and amplify that person instead (assuming that the information being shared checks out)
Mute or block large accounts that built their followings on other people’s reporting or content and have contributed little or no material of their own
Amplify solid journalism on topics you understand when you encounter it, especially from local reporters
Don’t mistake punditry for news
Problem 3: Users of major social media platforms are bombarded with far more content than can be meaningfully processed. Scroll through posts for just a few minutes and you’ll encounter dozens if not hundreds of distinct topics, as well as enough articles and video to keep you occupied for days if you attempted to read/watch all of them in their entirety. This creates a situation where it is impossible to even attempt to verify everything you run across, increasing the likelihood of amplifying false or misleading material. This issue is particularly relevant on Twitter-esque platforms that are designed to show the user a large number of short posts in a brief span of time.
Ways to mitigate this in day-to-day social media use include:
Don’t feel obligated to have a “take” on every single hot topic that crosses your feed
Be wary of accounts that present themselves as experts on whatever is trending on any given day
Don’t amplify articles that you haven’t read/skimmed or video you haven’t watched
Problem 4: Streisand Effect — debate or ridicule of obvious nonsense can spread the nonsense to a wider audience. Pointing out that false information is false, or attempting to argue with or mock its purveyors can have the unfortunate side effect of amplifying the aforementioned false information. Many people who engage in politically-motivated social media manipulation are aware of this phenomenon and take advantage of it. GOP U.S. representative and OG QAnon fan Marjorie Taylor Greene is particularly adept at this technique; her most outrageous posts frequently go viral due to liberal ridicule rather than amplification from her own supporters.
Ways to avoid bestowing the benefits of the Streisand Effect on social media liars include:
When mocking a post or pointing out that it is false, screenshot it rather than quoting or linking to the original
Add some kind of notation (such as a red X) to screenshots of false or misleading posts
Pick your fights — avoid debating when there is no possibility of persuasion, education, rhetorical victory, or increase in shared understanding, particularly in situations where you have a substantially larger audience than the account you disagree with