The release of internal Facebook documents showing that the platform isn’t doing enough to stop a flood of lies and misinformation has sparked outrage nationwide. As bad as these problems are in English, though, they are even worse in other languages: Facebook has admitted its platform was used to incite violence against the Rohingya in Myanmar, and in the Philippines, the site helped fuel a vicious drug war and attacks on dissident journalists. Social media platforms are allowing far more misinformation to spread in other languages than they are in English.
Misinformation online is bad in English. But it’s far worse in Spanish.
Our research found Facebook, YouTube and other platforms aren’t doing enough to combat falsehoods
Perspective by Stephanie Valencia
October 28, 2021 at 12:17 p.m. EDT