Researchers analyzed more than 14 million social media posts from accounts in Canada and found that 87 per cent of conspiratorial claims come from influencers, with just 100 users responsible for nearly 70 per cent of online conspiracy claims. Users on Elon Musk’s X were the biggest culprits.
  • Melvin_Ferd@lemmy.world
    5·
    15 hours ago

    How do they get this data. Isn’t it stuff that is collected so it’s not even a full set of data. It’s just a collection that some amazing people were able to pull since Facebook locks down their api

    There is a well-established “perception gap” between what we think others believe and what they actually believe. A recent poll by ReClimate found that 42 per cent of Canadians think about addressing climate change at least weekly, and yet they believe only 26 per cent of their neighbours do the same. Similarly, research has found as many as 89 per cent of people want more action on climate change — yet those 89 per cent tend to believe they’re in the minority.

    So many people shit on me here in lemmy for saying this, but we have to do better. We have to nut the fuck up and deal with this. Instead of the exodus off these social media platforms, we need to be the ones drowning them the fuck out. Who cares if they’re owned by who. It’s all still works based on numbers. We need numbers to identify problems and combat the spread of this. That’s how we all felt back in the day. Defeat misinformation by engaging with it. Somewhere along the line we were all convinced to ignore it which only allowed it to spread more rapidly.

    If they want to fuck around, we’re suppose to be the tech literate. We need grass roots networks and forums identifying the leaders and these small number of problem users and we need to make it as difficult as we can for them to work.

    • Murdoc@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      1·
      8 hours ago

      It’s not just numbers though, is it? There’s that algorithm thing they use to steer things. Otherwise in principle I agree wirh you.

      • Melvin_Ferd@lemmy.world
        1·
        3 hours ago

        But it is numbers. It’s always been about numbers. Humans are social creatures. We see everybody agreeing about something, we tend to also agree. It’s a weird phenomenon that has research behind it. It’s not like you or I are going to become Trump supporters because we see everybody agreeing with him. There are somethings that are immovable. But many opinions are movable and in those areas this groups are attempting to get numbers. It should be met with an equal and greater force. At the same time we need to quit being defensive and go back on the offensive. We should be creating groups and building networks. The algorithms do respond.