On today’s edition of Your Call we’ll discuss the impact of social media on the news.
False news spreads far more rapidly on Twitter than real news, according to a new study by three MIT scholars who studied a decade of tweets. The spread of false information is not due to bots; it’s due to people sharing inaccurate news items. The same thing happens on Facebook. Why do falsehoods spread more quickly than the truth? The MIT researchers say people tend to share more negative than positive news. How do social media companies influence what users see? And what will it take to push them to prioritize the truth over profits?
Guests:
Dr. Claire Wardle, co-founder and leader of First Draft, a nonprofit at Harvard University’s Shorenstein Center focused on addressing mis- and disinformation
Ryan Mac, senior tech reporter at BuzzFeed News
Web Resources:
TechCrunch: Facebook kills its ‘Trending’ section
The Verge: Facebook’s ad rules are forcing news outlets to register as political advertisers
Recode: Media — both on the left and right — are pressing Facebook to define what journalism is
