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Verified social media users are responsible for much fake news dissemination

Jun. 30, 2022

The rise of fake news has become one of the biggest problems in the nation—with roughly 67% of Americans having encountered it on social media—and has been eroding trust and respect among communities.

Min-Seok Pang and his co-authors found that individuals created more fake news after verifying their identity and receiving a ‘verified’ badge on social media. They also found that users were more likely to report a fake news post when it included videos.

Pang is concerned that nefarious users may be gaming the system to obtain a verified badge to add legitimacy to their fake news. Social media platforms should strengthen identity verification policies to prevent ill-intentioned workarounds.