Jun 5, 2024 05:44 PM
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1047128
INTRO: When Twitter banned more than 70,000 traffickers of false information from its platform in the wake of the violence at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, the impact went beyond the silencing of those users.
A study co-authored by UC Riverside public policy and political science scholars published in the journal Nature on Wednesday, June 5, found that the crackdown by Twitter (now called X after it was acquired by billionaire Elon Musk in late 2022) also significantly reduced the number of misinformation posts by users who stayed on the platform but had been following those who were kicked off.
Additionally, the study found that many of the misinformation traffickers, including those who posted Q-Anon conspiracy theories, left Twitter on their own accord after the massive de-platforming, which included the banning of then-President Donald Trump.
“There was a spillover effect,” said Kevin M. Esterling, a UCR professor of political science and public policy and a co-author of the study. “It wasn't just a reduction from the de-platformed users themselves, but it reduced circulation on the platform as a whole.”
It was first time such an effect had been shown, he said... (MORE - details, no ads)
INTRO: When Twitter banned more than 70,000 traffickers of false information from its platform in the wake of the violence at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, the impact went beyond the silencing of those users.
A study co-authored by UC Riverside public policy and political science scholars published in the journal Nature on Wednesday, June 5, found that the crackdown by Twitter (now called X after it was acquired by billionaire Elon Musk in late 2022) also significantly reduced the number of misinformation posts by users who stayed on the platform but had been following those who were kicked off.
Additionally, the study found that many of the misinformation traffickers, including those who posted Q-Anon conspiracy theories, left Twitter on their own accord after the massive de-platforming, which included the banning of then-President Donald Trump.
“There was a spillover effect,” said Kevin M. Esterling, a UCR professor of political science and public policy and a co-author of the study. “It wasn't just a reduction from the de-platformed users themselves, but it reduced circulation on the platform as a whole.”
It was first time such an effect had been shown, he said... (MORE - details, no ads)