Study finds that Facebook plays role in COVID-19 misinformation

On July 15, President Biden claimed that Facebook and other social media platforms were “killing people” by spreading misinformation about the coronavirus. Though Facebook quickly rebutted Biden’s statement, Political Science Professor James Druckman found that Facebook does play a role in spreading COVID-19 misinformation.

Druckman is a member of a university consortium called The COVID States Project, which includes researchers from Northwestern, Northeastern, Harvard, and Rutgers.  The researchers surveyed more than 20,600 people across the U.S. about the news sources they turn to for information on COVID-19 and vaccinations. They found that those who got most of their news from Facebook also displayed lower levels of institutional trust and greater acceptance of misinformation.

“We certainly cannot say the platform causes vaccine hesitancy, but it does seem like a place where such people gather,” said Druckman. “That makes it all the more important to ensure the provision of accurate information on Facebook.”

James Druckman

The researchers found that Facebook is a significant source of COVID-19 news for Americans. 33% of respondents reported visiting Facebook in the last 24 hours to find news about COVID-19, which means people use Facebook about as much as mainstream news sources like CNN (32%) and Fox News (30%).

Additionally, those who relied on Facebook for news about COVID-19 had substantially lower vaccination levels and higher levels of vaccine resistance.

Read more about the survey in Northwestern Now. Read the full report here.