Misinformation Crisis: How Social Media Platforms Are Reshaping Political Information

Social media platforms have fundamentally transformed how political information spreads, often “supercharging” the dissemination of problematic content, according to a comprehensive cross-platform study of online information environments. The research examined how misinformation manifests differently across seven major platforms in the run-up to U.S. presidential elections, revealing distinct patterns of problematic content across the digital landscape.

While rumors and conspiracy theories have always existed, their modern digital incarnation presents unique challenges. The study investigated TikTok, 4chan, Reddit, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Google Web Search, examining the most engaged-with content about candidates, political parties, and election-related issues.

The research found that the scale of the misinformation problem varies dramatically depending on how it’s defined. Under stricter definitions that include only imposter sites, pseudo-science, conspiracy theories, and extremism, the problem appears manageable. However, when expanded to include hyperpartisan and “junk” clickbait sites, the scale increases significantly—though rarely to the point where problematic content outperforms mainstream media.

Each platform presents unique challenges in the misinformation ecosystem. On younger platforms like TikTok and Instagram, problematic content often appears in sarcastic or insincere formats, making the sender’s intent difficult to determine. This ambiguity creates a new category of misinformation where users instill doubt in legitimate information through creative expressions like viral sounds and skeptical facial expressions.

Anonymous platforms like 4chan and Reddit present a different challenge. While these communities don’t extensively reference traditional misinformation sources, they frequently link to extreme YouTube content that often ends up being removed from the platform for violating community guidelines. These deleted videos represent a significant but less visible vector for problematic content.

On mainstream platforms like Twitter and Facebook, hyperpartisan sources remain the dominant form of problematic content. The research revealed that if “fake news” is defined to include hyperpartisan sources, Facebook’s misinformation problem has actually worsened slightly since 2016, with the proportion of “fake news” engagement to mainstream news increasing from roughly 1:4 to 1:3.5.

Surprisingly, Instagram emerged as the “cleanest” platform in the study. Most election-related content was found to be non-divisive and earnestly posted, with influencers generally serving as responsible information providers—often debunking conspiracy theories rather than promoting them.

Google Web Search presents yet another dimension of the problem. The study found minimal problematic information in search results for political queries but noted that liberal sources consistently outnumbered conservative ones by a ratio of 3:1 or even 6:1, depending on how political leaning was defined—potentially fueling claims of “liberal bias” in tech platforms.

The findings indicate that social media platforms are gradually “marginalizing the mainstream” through various mechanisms: TikTok parodies it, 4chan and Reddit dismiss it in favor of alternative networks, Twitter and Facebook favor hyperpartisan content over mainstream reporting, and Instagram elevates influencers over experts.

In response to these challenges, platforms have begun implementing what researchers call “editorial epistemologies”—manual curation of results for certain queries, particularly around COVID-19 and elections. This marks a significant shift away from algorithmic filtering and toward more traditional editorial judgment, signaling what the researchers describe as an “exceptional information state.”

This return to human editorial control represents a striking change in how platforms filter information. Unlike the low-wage content moderation that typically focuses on removing violent or pornographic content, this new approach involves quality judgments about information sources. Platforms must now grapple with complex questions about journalistic balance, source credibility, and fact-checking at enormous scale.

As social media continues to reshape how we consume political information, the study suggests that addressing the misinformation crisis will require not just technological solutions but a fundamental rethinking of how information is evaluated, categorized, and presented online.