Misinformation dropped dramatically the week after Twitter banned Trump

[UpInArms]

Source: Washington Post

Online misinformation about election fraud plunged 73 percent after several social media sites suspended President Trump and key allies last week, research firm Zignal Labs has found, underscoring the power of tech companies to limit the falsehoods poisoning public debate when they act aggressively.

The new research by the San Francisco-based analytics firm reported that conversations about election fraud dropped from 2.5 million mentions to 688,000 mentions across several social media sites in the week after Trump was banned from Twitter.

Election disinformation had for months been a major subject of online misinformation, beginning even before the Nov. 3 election and pushed heavily by Trump and his allies.

... snip ...

Disinformation researchers consistently have found that relatively few accounts acted as “superspreaders” during the election, with their tweets and posts generating a disproportionate share of the falsehoods and misleading narratives that spread about election fraud, mail-in ballots and other topics related to the vote.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/01/16/misinformation-trump-twitter/

[Blue Owl]

1. Suck on that Donny you fat piece of shit

[Talitha]

43. Hahahahaha!!!!

[mucifer]

2. too little too late

[UpInArms]

3. I thought his twitter account was inappropriate the first time he used it

after the 2017 inauguration

[mucifer]

5. Coffeefee!!

[mdbl]

7. Covfefe

can't ya spell?

[mucifer]

9. I guess not. :(

It was a while ago.

[mdbl]

10. LOL

[SammyWinstonJack]

17. Exactly what I was just thinking.

[Initech]

4. He's the king of misinformation!

[2naSalit]

6. Imagine that.

[SunSeeker]

8. K & R

[JCMach1]

11. Turn off Trump and the Q nozzles

Permanently

[Historic NY]

12. Twitter is actually pretty peaceful

[Ford_Prefect]

13. Imagine how much better if FOX, Russia Times, OANN, and Newsy were pulled.

Last edited Sun Jan 17, 2021, 05:55 AM - Edit history (1)

Armed forces networks could do it overnight.

Edit: NEWSMAX should be prominently on this list.

[doublethink]

18. Thank you for adding that to this thread.

The truth shall make you free. Peace.

[BigmanPigman]

31. That's what I was thinking too.

If Faux Ruse was canceled along with social media the Dems might actually have a chance to inform people with FACTS.

Fakebook and Fux are responsible for a certain percentage of the misinformation for several decades.

[Talitha]

44. Is Newsy one of 'them'? I watch it once in a while and never noticed any bias.

[Ford_Prefect]

45. Newsy has an agenda and tends to show selective versions of the news

They are more subtle than RT but along the same lines IMO. Not everything they publish has the RW tilt. But on some subjects and coverage it is unmistakable what their editors prefer.

I meant to say NEWSMAX which has OANN's degree of RW slur and sneer.

[LiberalLovinLug]

14. Begs the question: Why wasn't this done sooner?

Cleaning up their platforms of fake news bots? If it was this easy. One day.

[Mr.Bill]

19. Money.

[Blue_playwright]

24. And staffing

I don’t know how they would battle it completely long term - other than start charging a small fee to businesses?

[Bev54]

15. I wish the would stop calling it misinformation it is

disinformation. Misinformation suggests that it was inadvertently put out there. Disinformation is put out purposely to deceive.

[UCmeNdc]

16. proof that Trumpism propaganda was working for Donald Corruption Trump

Trump knew twitter and FB was the source of his power.

[ailsagirl]

20. Hmm... do you think there's a connection?

Best thing twitter ever did!!
🤩

[NewJeffCT]

21. it takes time to radically reprogram all those Russian bots

and trolls with new lines of attack

[BumRushDaShow]

22. THIS

It was mostly magnified by millions of fake Russian bot twitter accounts retweeting the bullshit.

[llashram]

23. great

Too many nazis have been awakened, I feel.

[orangecrush]

25. Putin is pissed

GOOD

[Nululu]

26. Wonder if covid misinformation dropped

Trump was the source of over 30% of covid lies, hoping that situation also improved

[DeminPennswoods]

27. Whodda thunk?

[Aussie105]

28. Now that the Trump Twitter boil has been lanced. . .

the infection and irritation will settle down quickly.

THAT was always the solution, should have happened sooner!

[liberalmuse]

29. I'm sure blood pressure's dropped, too

And mental wellness went up.

[DemoTex]

30. Trump is the "Lord of the Lies," ..

But Pence is, forever, the "Lord of the Flies."

[JohnnyRingo]

32. This is incredible!

Actually, it's very credible, but it's unbelievable.
No, that's not right either, it's very believable, but predictable.
That's it! This is incredibly and unbelievably predictable.

[UpInArms]

37. Well said, JohnnyRingo

[world wide wally]

33. Our country would be in so much better of a place if they had done this a year or two ago.

[BobTheSubgenius]

34. Anyone surprised by this needs some Coles Notes.

Something to give them at least a brief overview.

[BlueWavePsych]

35. Amazing

[icymist]

36. This says something very loud about unregulated social networks.

Facebook's and Twitter's part in helping to spread misinformation is dangerous to our country.

[UpInArms]

38. 👆🏼

Thank you

[Aussie105]

39. It's the appeal to the malcontents . . .

You (*) throw lots of different slanted messages out there - and why not? It's free! (Unlike TV ads)

The ones that resonate with the masses, as judged by retweets and followers, are the ones you push further.

A new topic comes up? Easy, new slant, new dose of media poison, etc. Fruitful process! Never stops!

*GASP* What happens if people catch on they are being played and leave Face(less)Book and Twitcher, see what is been going on, and don't come back? Oh NO!

But this should not be a surprise, surely? 'Unregulated media' means it sinks to the lowest common denominator. Always!

(*) 'You' being trolls, stirrers, evil foreigners, axe grinders, Chief_Malcontent_in_the_WH, etc.

[IronLionZion]

40. Misinformation exploded during this pandemic

as people stuck at home spent more time online reading social media feeling paranoid. And bad actors decided to exploit that anxiety and paranoia by encouraging them to distrust official communications about anything from COVID to election results.

It's been well established that Russian accounts helped amplify the spread of misinformation here in the US.

[appmanga]

41. The social media companies...

...can never again pretend they don't know the impact of letting propaganda and conspiracy theories flow unchecked. They may want to pretend it's not their job to "censor", but, like other media, they have a responsibility to not let the society be poisoned by lies and disinformation. And to rely on a few moderators with their own agendas isn't enough.