Do you think mis-, dis- , and mal-information on social media is adequately regulated?
Take the poll!
What is it?
New research from NYU’s Center for Social Media and Politics shows that Latino communities who use Spanish as their primary language of communication consume and are exposed to more mis-, dis-, and mal-information (MDM) while using social media.
Language plays a large factor in exposure to MDM; many popular technology platforms, including Meta, admit to being worse at moderating Spanish language content. This has strong, negative ramifications for the 40% of Latino people who primarily use Spanish to communicate on these platforms.
According to the study, Latino individuals report relying more heavily on social media to receive news. Latinos interacting with Spanish social media posts stated greater beliefs in MDM surrounding COVID-19 and election integrity than users navigating the platforms using English.
Why does it matter?
Targeting social media users by language can create information silos and perpetuate divides within the country, exacerbating nationwide discord.
Inadequate moderation for Spanish language content can be taken advantage of to inundate Spanish-speaking communities with MDM intentionally, harming the communities targeted and pushing nationwide electoral distrust.
What can you do?
Flag information you suspect may be MDM on WhatsApp, Telegram, and other popular social media platforms.
Learn how to fact-check viral messages on WhatsApp in English and Spanish.
I report fake news post, usually political and very often recist but they are rarely taken down. I blame Facebook for the referendum result with their data breaches and outright lies often posted as memes but actually advertisements.
It's obvious that regulating free speech on social media platforms is very complex and requires more human intervention than machines and algorithms.
No, they're not effectively regulated on some platforms, e.g. Quora, Twitter, etc.
I report fake news post, usually political and very often recist but they are rarely taken down. I blame Facebook for the referendum result with their data breaches and outright lies often posted as memes but actually advertisements.
Of course not it's not beneficial at this time for the owners of the social media companies to do so!!