UMass Amherst-led team debunks Facebook’s role in election misinformation control

AMHERST, Mass. (WWLP) – A new study led by researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst challenges the findings of a 2023 Meta-funded study, which suggested that Facebook’s algorithms effectively limited misinformation during the 2020 U.S. presidential election.

Published in the journal Science , the UMass Amherst team’s work reveals that Facebook’s algorithm was temporarily altered during the Meta-funded study period, giving a false impression that its news feed consistently filters untrustworthy content.

The original research by Guess et al. ran from September to December 2020, overlapping with a time when Facebook had implemented 63 temporary “break glass” changes to reduce misinformation visibility.

Lead researcher Chhandak Bagchi, a graduate student at UMass Amherst, noted that these changes, introduced just before the election, effectively cut misinformation by 24%. However, once the temporary measures were removed in March 2021, Facebook’s algorithms resumed promoting more untrustworthy news content.

The study raises concerns about transparency in social media algorithm changes and their potential impact on public perception.

While Meta’s initial study was heavily reported, the UMass Amherst-led team’s findings suggest that social media companies can reduce misinformation but might lack financial motivation to do so in the long term.

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