2022 Social Media and Online Dating

A new report from NewsGuard, a company that tracks misinformation on the internet cites examples of how it says TikTok users are likely to bump into misinformation on the platform. While users of all ages go to the app for recipes, dance routines, and generally funny videos, searching for more serious topics may not always lead to the most accurate information.

Searching for videos on any current events topics, including climate change, COVID-19 vaccines, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, among several others, is likely to be met with misinformation. The NewsGuard study found that about 20% of all videos that TikTok suggests after these key searches contain inaccurate information. 

The report also points to the terms that auto-populate on TikTok when users are searching for information on COVID-19 vaccines. The search term “COVID vaccine” yielded the searches “COVID vaccine injury” and “COVID vaccine exposed,” both of which may lead to videos with misinformation. On the other hand, searching for “COVID vaccine” on Google led to prompts for booster shots and health care facilities. 

This is particularly concerning when thinking about the primary audience on TikTok – young people. It can be difficult for consumers of any age to discern what’s accurate and what’s not, but having access to legitimate information – especially where important topics are concerned – is crucial. 

In a statement, representatives from TikTok said that the company plans to remove any misinformation from the platform. The platform’s community guidelines outline that it does not tolerate misinformation of any kind, and any videos containing inaccurate information will be removed. 

A bigger social media problem

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, social media has been a breeding ground for misinformation. In the last few years, Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter have all had issues related to spreading misinformation about COVID-19 and the vaccines. 

By mid-May 2020, nearly 30% of all YouTube videos contained misinformation about the pandemic. The biggest culprit was entertainment news outlets, which accounted for 30% of these videos, and they had garnered over 62 million views by that point. 

After similar instances at Twitter, the company started monitoring all tweets related to the virus. Twitter started flagging tweets with misinformation about COVID-19 and the vaccines, and by early March 2021, the platform had removed over 8,400 tweets and flagged over 11.5 million accounts. 

More recently, misinformation has been spread on nearly every social platform about abortion reversal pills. Following the Supreme Court’s decision on Roe v. Wade earlier this summer, posts on social media about abortion reversal treatment were gaining traction.

However, the treatment has yet to be proven safe or effective, and leading health care organizations have spoken out about the dangers of taking such pills. These types of posts make it difficult for consumers to know what’s true and what’s not, which further clouds these important, and potentially life-threatening choices. 

Battling misinformation

Spotting misinformation on social media can be difficult. While typos or grammatical errors can be obvious signs that certain posts aren’t to be trusted, not every inaccurate post is so clearly inaccurate. Experts encourage social media users to report and flag any posts that they think contain misinformation. 

Consumers need to be cautious and discerning when scrolling through their feeds and pay close attention to the source of social media posts. Look for those who are experts in a particular field, original creators of posts, or posts that are current – those who re-post items that are several years old aren’t likely to be accurate. 

Doing more research is never a bad thing. Because misinformation can be hard to spot, taking the time to search for answers from credible sources outside of social media is the best way to ensure you’re only accessing the facts. 

Now that Elon Musk has another new toy to play with courtesy of his buyout of Twitter, the world will be watching every move he makes. By ponying up $44 billion to buy Twitter, Musk went all-in on his quest to improve what he calls “the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated." 

How will people who use Twitter see his mission play out? Among the things the SpaceX, Starlink, and Tesla CEO has said is on his wish list is shaking up Twitter’s content rules in the name of free speech. Musk thinks of himself as a  "free speech absolutist" – going as far as taking a not-so-cheap shot at the company he just bought for what he views as excessive moderation.

“If it’s a gray area, let the tweet exist,” Musk said in Tweets and conversations leading up to his takeover of Twitter.

Revoking bans?

Does that mean Twitter’s current stance of banning harassing and abusive tweets will end on the first day that Musk is in charge? 

“Experts who study social networks fret about Musk's push to loosen the rules of engagement on Twitter,” Bobby Allyn reported on NPR’s Morning Edition. “They say that could give license to harassers, trolls and others who abuse the platform to target people.”

Allyn said the same experts fret that relaxing Twitter's rules will give power to those who want to exploit the platform to spread misinformation about political events, government officials, and matters related to public health and safety.

Editing tweets and cutting out ads

Another change – one that Twitter users have been begging for for years – is a rudimentary edit button. There’s no guarantee that change will happen, but Musk has gone on record saying he supports letting people change what their tweets say. If Musk gives users that power, they can change content on the fly just like they can on other platforms like Facebook and Instagram.

Musk took a poll of what changes Twitter users would like to see in advance of his takeover bid. An edit button got the thumbs-up on more than 3.2 million of the 4 million votes cast. 

Lastly, users who hate advertising may no longer have to deal with it on Twitter. With Musk taking the company private, it won’t be under the same stress to perform for shareholders like it is now.

However, Musk has indicated he might move Twitter to a subscription model instead of making it ad-free. That's a move that's been tested out before. Last year, the company introduced Twitter Blue -- a premium service that cost $2.99 a month for additional features like different color schemes and advanced editing options.

Meta, the parent company of Facebook, set a Wall Street record last week, and not the good kind. 

After reporting earnings at midweek, shares plunged and kept going down, losing $232 billion in one day alone – the biggest loss in Wall Street history.

The company reported weaker-than-expected revenue for the fourth quarter, but that’s not what led to the wave of selling. CEO Mark Zuckerburg was blunt in his assessment of the company’s immediate future, citing inflation, supply chain issues affecting advertisers, and users shifting to alternatives that “monetize at lower rates.”

“People have a lot of choices for how they want to spend their time and apps like TikTok are growing very quickly,” Zuckerburg said on the conference call. “And this is why our focus on Reels is so important over the long-term. As is our work to make sure that our apps are the best services out there for young adults, which I spoke about on our last call.” 

Facebook purchased Instagram when young adults switched from Facebook, which was increasingly being used by their parent's generation. Even though Facebook has more than 2 billion users worldwide, the latest earnings report showed a slowdown in user growth.

ConsumerAffairs reviewers weigh in

An analysis of verified reviews of Facebook at ConsumerAffairs shows that the platform still has its fans, earning a respectable 3.4-star rating in a 5-star system. But recent reviews suggest a rising level of user frustration.

Laurel, of Fredericksburg, Va., is among several Facebook users who are bewildered by the company’s policies.

“I get banned from reacting, commenting, sharing, you name it, without warning because I violated some vague community standard,” Laurel wrote in a ConsumerAffairs review. “Facebook says I am ‘spamming’ people by reacting or commenting. Huh?”

Lisa, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., says the problem goes deeper than being temporarily banned. She says Facebook has shut down many users’ accounts since December for unspecified reasons. 

“They have no support team to inquire, the phone numbers listed online do not work or are fraud, and the forms requested to fill out are never replied to,” Lisa told us. “I sent in 30+ requests for help and NO one has replied to my requests.”

Challenges for small businesses

Justin, a ConsumerAffairs reviewer from San Diego, said he owns a business and has to work with Facebook on advertising. Lately, he says it hasn’t been easy.

“Their AI robots will reject your ad for no reason other than it made a mistake,” Justin contends in a ConsumerAffairs review. “Even worse, if their stupid robots make a big mistake, they'll shut down your entire ad account. Even worse, when you chat with their support, they'll never tell you why it was rejected or taken down. You can get everything back up and running again if you constantly send it in for a review and after many reviews, an actual human will do it and reinstate it.”

According to Reuters, analysts are beginning to wonder if Facebook’s problems are contagious and will eventually spread to Instagram, which is favored by a younger demographic. The news service cites Insider Intelligence, a forecasting firm, which recently estimated that Instagram’s growth in users could eventually be at risk, slowing to 5.8% this year and to 3.1% by 2025.