Ten percent of users delete them and one in five correct them

When there is a danger, most active users of the short message service Twitter tend to give fake news by retweeting or liking the original post. If the information received is revealed to be untrue, only around 20 percent correct their incorrect tweets.

This is the conclusion of a recent study by researchers at the University at Buffalo .

Excessive rumors

“As far as we can tell, this is the first study to examine how Twitter users can debunk falsehoods during disasters. Unfortunately, the results generate an unflattering picture,”

explains study author Jun Zhuang. According to the results of the study, users are most active in spreading fake news when an event that affects the public is still ongoing - such as terrorist attacks, accidents or natural disasters.

The researchers examined three types of user behavior. Twitter users can spread false news, try to confirm it through research, or generally doubt it. It turns out that 86 to 91 percent of users simply share false news by retweeting or liking the original post. Only five to nine percent attempt to investigate apparent fake news - typically by retweeting and asking whether the information is correct.

Laziness instead of correction

Just one to nine percent of users express doubts when they believe they have discovered fake news. Even when fake information is debunked on Twitter and traditional news media, fewer than 10 percent of users who were caught up in the fake news delete their retweets on the topic. Less than 20 percent write another tweet to correct themselves afterwards.


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