Social media let confirmation bias drive news consumption, undercutting paid mainstream outlets

Evidence

The rise of social media as a source of news blurred the lines even further between news and opinion, as people shared stories from blogs, alternative news sites, and God knows where, as if they were all true. As the 2016 presidential election heated up, more and more content on social media skewed partisan, which fit well with a “motivated reasoning” vibe enabled by technology. We could click on “news” stories that told us what we wanted to hear (whether they had been vetted for accuracy or not) as opposed to some of the factual content from mainstream media that may have been less palatable. Without knowing that they were doing so, people could feed their desire for confirmation bias (not to mention score some free news content) directly, without bothering to patronize traditional news sources. Why pay for a newspaper subscription when you could get as many stories as you wanted from friends that had just as much to say about the events you were interested in? The “prestige press” didn’t stand a chance. — Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth, 190

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s ongoing work on motivated reasoning and echo chambers as distinct from deliberate disinformation campaigns. — connects to: Media profit incentives over truth drove audiences toward social media — Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth, 188; Fake news outperformed reputable news in social media engagement in 2016 — Cailin O’Connor and James Owen Weatherall, The Misinformation Age: How False…, 18; News consumed via social media correlates with more polarization than direct browsing (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• Social media amplifies rather than causes pre-existing biases in susceptible users #qualifies (0.85)
• Fake news outperformed reputable news in social media engagement in 2016 #exemplifies (0.80) — Cailin O’Connor and James Owen Weatherall, The Misinformation Age, 18
• Polarization arises from social media access, not from people’s own content choices #contradicts (0.80) — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof, 466
• News consumed via social media correlates with more polarization than direct browsing #corroborates (0.75)
• Deliberate misinformation weaponized for profit or power can outcompete true news #corroborates (0.75) — Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth, 218