What’s popular on Facebook? Far-right news and information.
What’s even more popular? Far-right falsehoods.
Those are the findings of a new study out Wednesday from New York University.
Sources of news and information on the far right generate the highest average number of interactions per follower, more than any other partisan group on Facebook, even extreme views on the political left, NYU’s Cybersecurity for Democracy project reported.
“We found that politically extreme sources tend to generate more interactions from users. In particular, content from sources rated as far-right by independent news rating services consistently received the highest engagement per follower of any partisan group,” the study said.
Far-right sources of news and information that spread misinformation have even higher engagement than far-right sources overall, generating on average 65% more engagement per follower, according to the study.
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Misinformation that appeals to our emotions has been a boon for fraudsters looking to profit off falsehoods or gain a political advantage. But while sources of information elsewhere on the political spectrum frequently suffer a “misinformation penalty” – a measurable decline in engagement for being unreliable…
