Social media changed misinformation’s speed, reach, and social context

Evidence

That is exactly the key question I want to tackle here. Although social media clearly did not invent propaganda or polarization, it has changed the nature of the game. Social media has fundamentally reshaped the flow of information in society. Specifically, it has changed the speed with which information can travel, the number of people that can be reached with a single click of a button, as well as the social context in which information is delivered and manipulated. What we know now is that misinformation spreads and replicates much like a virus. — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof, 314

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Messaging platforms amplify misinformation but are not its root cause — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects…, 357; Social media amplifies timeless misinformation tactics rather than inventing them — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects…, 361; Fake news outperformed reputable news in social media engagement in 2016 — Cailin O’Connor and James Owen Weatherall, The Misinformation Age: How False…, 18 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Social media’s novelty is the speed, reach, and medium of disinformation, not its existence #expands (0.95) — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof, 326
• Fake news outperformed reputable news in social media engagement in 2016 #exemplifies (0.85) — Cailin O’Connor and James Owen Weatherall, The Misinformation Age, 18