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A new study analyzing tweets sent before and after the 2016 presidential election claims to reveal an "ecosystem of false information" on Twitter that would have caused the spread of misinformation across the United States.
More than 6.6 million tweets circulated on Twitter (twtr) in the month leading up to the 2016 elections, which were linked to "fake news editors and conspiracies," the Knight Foundation said Thursday. The study, commissioned by the Knight Foundation and produced by George Washington University, also revealed that 4 million tweets related to these editors of "false information and conspiracy" had been found on Twitter between mid-March 2017 and mid-April 2017.
"More than 80% of the accounts that repeatedly spread misinformation during the 2016 election campaign are still active," continued The Knight Foundation, "and continue to publish more than a million tweets every day ".
Twitter and Facebook have been under fire for two years following allegations that the Russians used social media to meddle in the US elections. These tactics consisted of creating a multitude of fake accounts and linking them to conspiracy sites and fake news publishers to influence public opinion.
According to the Knight Foundation, its results show that Russians have made considerable efforts on Twitter to spread misinformation. The service added that the majority of the accounts were "pro-Republican" and "pro-Trump". Some of the accounts, however, supported liberal causes.
In a statement to Fortune In response to the study, Twitter's global vice president of trust and security, Del Harvey, said Twitter was working quickly to remove harmful content.
"First of all, this study was built using our public API and therefore does not take into account any of the actions we take to remove content and automated or spammed accounts from user consultation. on Twitter. We do it proactively and on a large scale, every day, "Harvey said. "Second, as a unique open service, Twitter is a vital source of antidote in real time to everyday lies. We are proud of this use case and work diligently to ensure that we show the context and diverse perspectives of people when they participate in the civic debate and conversations about our service. "
Harvey's statement – and the result of the study – arrive a few days after the publication of Twitter a blog post update users on his "work for the integrity of elections". Harvey noted in the blog that Twitter had updated its rules to better control fake accounts and shared hacked content through the site. The company said it was also working to suppress misleading and politically motivated accounts.
"We continue to work in close partnership with the RNC, the DNC and state election institutions to improve the way we handle these issues," Harvey wrote in his blog.
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