Instagram traps people in 'the reality they think'



It has long been pointed out that SNS spreads misinformation, but a new study found that Instagram's

algorithm 'displays more and more misinformation to people who are interested in questionable information and does not display it to those who are not.' was shown. It has been pointed out that this divides users and traps them in their own perception of reality.



Instagram Algorithms Serve Up COVID-19 Misinformation, Study Finds : NPR
https://www.npr.org/2021/03/09/975032249/instagram-suggested-posts-to-users-it-served-up-covid-19-falsehoods-study-finds

Instagram users will see not only posts from people they follow on their timeline, but also “recommended” posts selected by the Instagram algorithm. Such a feature was implemented in August 2020, but according to research by the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) , a non-profit NGO that fights online hate, timelines of people interested in questionable information found that misinformation about the new coronavirus infection (COVID-19) and its vaccine is displayed as a suggested post.

Imran Ahmed, CEO of CCDH, said in response to the survey, 'Instagram's algorithm not only traps people in their own reality, but also separates the I have halved the people who are going to work, ”he commented.

Numerous researchers have pointed out that SNS has spread misinformation about the US presidential election and pandemics. The CCDH research report is the latest to show that social media spreads misinformation.

AFP communication warns that many ``hoaxes'' about the new coronavirus are flying around on SNS-GIGAZINE



In February 2021, Facebook, which operates Instagram, announced that it would suspend accounts that spread misinformation about the new coronavirus vaccine in response to the indication that `` SNS spreads misinformation ''.

Instagram and Facebook announce that they will ban accounts that spread misinformation about new corona vaccines-GIGAZINE



In the CCDH study, volunteers created 15 new Instagram profiles and then followed various accounts. These 'various accounts' include wellness-related accounts, alternative medicine accounts, anti-vaccine group accounts, and accounts that recommend QAnon 's conspiracy theory.

We found that accounts following wellness influencers and anti-vaccine advocates were exposed to misinformation about COVID-19 and offensive posts about vaccination. In addition, the account has received a wider range of misinformation and hateful information than the content it follows, including election misinformation, anti-Semitic information, hate posts about identity, and conspiracy theories.

On the other hand, the only accounts that did not display incorrect information were those that followed the American Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the World Health Organization (WHO), the Gates Foundation, etc.



Regarding the recommendation function that displays the content of people who do not follow, Ahmed said, ``Many people do not realize that they are given information from people they do not follow. It's very dangerous because it thinks it's a post by a trusted person who followed on '','' and expressed the view that the recommendation function should be stopped until the recommendation function stops displaying dangerous misinformation. rice field.

Facebook countered, ``This survey is five months old and has a very small sample size of only 104 posts.'' Searching for terms such as COVID-19 or vaccine on Instagram will now display information from trusted medical institutions such as WHO and CDC, and we are working to make it harder to find accounts that oppose vaccination. I also said there is.

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