{"id":170033,"date":"2025-06-11T16:20:59","date_gmt":"2025-06-11T22:20:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tecscience.tec.mx\/en\/?p=170033"},"modified":"2025-06-19T17:46:22","modified_gmt":"2025-06-19T23:46:22","slug":"viral-misinformation-on-social-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tecscience.tec.mx\/en\/human-social\/viral-misinformation-on-social-media\/","title":{"rendered":"Viral Disinformation: The Role of Social Media in Spreading it"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Disinformation<\/strong> has become a big problem for humanity, as it can result in risks to public health and safety. To combat it, we need <a href=\"\/en\/tech\/media-literacy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">media literacy<\/a>, platform regulation, and a reaffirmation of the responsibility of media outlets and individuals who disseminate information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The term refers to false, inaccurate, or misleading information that is intentionally disseminated to gain economic or political advantage or to harm a person, social group, organization, or country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Although the word is used everyday and doesn&#8217;t sound like something critical to address, the reality is that it can have catastrophic and even lethal results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Disinformation during the <a href=\"\/en\/tag\/covid-19\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">COVID-19<\/a> pandemic is a clear example, and, close to that, we are seeing outbreaks of diseases that had been eradicated for years,&#8221; says <a href=\"https:\/\/itesm.academia.edu\/AnaLauraMaltosTamez\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Ana Laura Maltos<\/a> research professor at the <a href=\"\/en\/tag\/school-of-humanities-and-education\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">School of Humanities and Education<\/a> (EHE) and the Digital Media Observatory at Tecnol\u00f3gico de Monterrey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>During this health crisis, rumors circulated around the world about supposed alternative treatments that had serious consequences. In Iran, <a href=\"https:\/\/link.springer.com\/article\/10.1186\/s13054-020-03140-w\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">more than 800 people died from drinking methanol<\/a>, and in Mexico, many were poisoned by ingesting <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gob.mx\/cofepris\/articulos\/comunicado-a-la-poblacion-248797?idiom=es\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">chlorine dioxide<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another example is when then-South African President, Thabo Mbeki, denied the link between HIV and AIDS, promoting treatments other than antiretrovirals, resulting in <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/19186354\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">more than 300,000 preventable deaths<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Recently, with the expansion of social media, such as Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, and X, the problem has skyrocketed. &#8220;Disinformation has always existed, but <strong>in the last five years<\/strong>, the landscape has drastically changed,&#8221; says Maltos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Social Media Is the Main Vehicle for Disinformation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>At the Observatory, Maltos and her colleagues have studied the role of social media in spreading disinformation, and they have found that they are the main vehicle through which this happens, although search engines, like Google, and instant messaging services, like WhatsApp, are also involved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A few years ago, the purpose of using social media was to connect with other people and create virtual communities that shared a preference or something they liked, but recently this has changed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Right now we are seeing a reality where these spaces are being moderated <strong>by interests<\/strong> that are not necessarily those of the users,&#8221; says Maltos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With the massive increase in the number of people using them \u2014Facebook has three billion monthly active users globally\u2014 companies, governments, individuals, and other organizations have found the perfect channel to share information that benefits them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Disinformation can be created for political or economic gain, or sometimes it is simply to create chaos or generate views,&#8221; says the expert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This poses a problem because traditional media outlets, such as radio, newspapers, and magazines, had ways of regulating the information they shared, such as fact-checkers or codes of ethics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On social media, the owners establish the policies and rules. Earlier this year, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/meta-facebook-instagram-fact-checking-mark-zuckerberg\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Mark Zuckerberg announced that he would stop using fact-checkers on Meta<\/a>, which includes Facebook and Instagram, and that fact-checking would be replaced by community notes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;This is worrying because it distracts us from the platforms&#8217; responsibility for disinformation,&#8221; Maltos reflects. &#8220;Giving users the task of debunking information or verifying its accuracy can, in a way, wash their hands of it.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Sophistication of Disinformation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Combating disinformation has become increasingly difficult, as the way it is presented is more subtle. Some strategies used to spread it include using some true facts to disguise misleading information or impersonating someone to claim that the source is serious and professional, using names that appeal to this, but often do not exist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;The way it operates has become more sophisticated. It&#8217;s no longer simply a lie; it&#8217;s often inaccurate information accompanied by elements that seem very, very reliable, but aren&#8217;t,&#8221; explains Maltos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Added to this is the existence of <em><strong>influencers<\/strong><\/em>, the people who have a large follower base and presence on social media, with the ability to influence the decisions, opinions, or behaviors of an audience or group of users.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These figures are often \u2014intentionally or unintentionally\u2014 vehicles for disinformation. &#8220;In general, they don&#8217;t have the same goal or commitment to information <strong>as a journalist<\/strong>,&#8221; says Maltos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How to Resist Disinformation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>According to the expert, there are several steps you can take to avoid falling prey to <a href=\"\/en\/human-social\/digital-media-observatory\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">disinformation<\/a>. The first is to pause <strong>before reacting or sharing something you see or read.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One of the main characteristics of this phenomenon is that what is shown has an emotional aspect. &#8220;There&#8217;s something about it that causes you to back in your seat and need to send it to someone to share the <strong>emotional burden<\/strong>,&#8221; says Maltos. This is one of the reasons why it goes viral so quickly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Given this, her recommendation is to receive information with skepticism and take the time to verify where it comes from and what its intention is. The Observatory has <a href=\"https:\/\/omd.tec.mx\/recursos\">developed and compiled freely available tools<\/a> for detecting disinformation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the end, the most important thing is to remember that, although social media tells us that <strong>the algorithm is there <\/strong>to serve us users, in reality it only helps us filter the enormous amounts of information out there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;There&#8217;s this perception that we have control over the algorithm, but no, it&#8217;s the other way around,&#8221; says Maltos. &#8220;It&#8217;s fueled by a series of policies and rules determined by who owns the platform; the <strong>network isn&#8217;t neutral<\/strong>; it&#8217;s determined by a series of commercial and political factors.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Understanding this is a way to resist disinformation and prevent it from having serious impacts on our lives. It can have many serious consequences, such as health risks, misinformed decision-making, the collapse of public services, the erosion of trust in institutions, and the promotion of conflict and social polarization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Sometimes it&#8217;s disheartening to think that there won&#8217;t be a way back, that discourses where insults and hate speech are allowed will dominate, hiding behind freedom of speech,&#8221; reflects Maltos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The idea of \u200b\u200bMaltos and her colleagues in response to this is to start focusing efforts on <strong>media and digital literacy<\/strong>, with programs and tools at all educational levels \u2014and outside of school\u2014 that teach people how to navigate virtual reality with strong foundations and distinguish malicious information. &#8220;This what I&#8217;m betting for,&#8221; says the researcher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>Were you interested in this story? Would you like to publish it? Contact our content editor to learn more: <a href=\"mailto:marianaleonm@tec.mx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">marianaleonm@tec.mx<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Giving users the responsibility of verifying online information can, in some ways, wash the hands of companies responsible of spreading it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":170035,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_eb_attr":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[89],"tags":[390],"class_list":["post-170033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-human-social","tag-school-of-humanities-and-education"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v21.0 (Yoast SEO v27.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Social Media are the Ideal Vehicle to Spread Disinformation | TecScience<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"With the massive increase in social media use, disinformation is becoming increasingly common, threatening the stability of countries.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tecscience.tec.mx\/en\/human-social\/viral-misinformation-on-social-media\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Viral Disinformation: The Role of Social Media in Spreading it\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"With the massive increase in social media use, disinformation is becoming increasingly common, threatening the stability of countries.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/tecscience.tec.mx\/en\/human-social\/viral-misinformation-on-social-media\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"TecScience\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-06-11T22:20:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-06-19T23:46:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/tecscience.tec.mx\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/06\/01.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"750\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"In\u00e9s Guti\u00e9rrez Jaber\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"In\u00e9s Guti\u00e9rrez Jaber\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tecscience.tec.mx\\\/en\\\/human-social\\\/viral-misinformation-on-social-media\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tecscience.tec.mx\\\/en\\\/human-social\\\/viral-misinformation-on-social-media\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"In\u00e9s Guti\u00e9rrez Jaber\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tecscience.tec.mx\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/72a3b50d0dbd7d1124452069e14a2db9\"},\"headline\":\"Viral Disinformation: The Role of Social Media in Spreading it\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-06-11T22:20:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-06-19T23:46:22+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tecscience.tec.mx\\\/en\\\/human-social\\\/viral-misinformation-on-social-media\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1063,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tecscience.tec.mx\\\/en\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tecscience.tec.mx\\\/en\\\/human-social\\\/viral-misinformation-on-social-media\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tecscience.tec.mx\\\/en\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2025\\\/06\\\/01.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"School of Humanities and Education\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Human &amp; 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It's no longer simply a lie; it's often inaccurate information accompanied by elements that seem very, very reliable, but aren't,\" says Ana Laura Maltos, research professor at the Digital Media Observatory of Tec de Monterrey. 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Mi trabajo ha sido publicado en medios como Science, Science News, Newsweek, Nexos, \u00bfC\u00f3mo ves?, entre otros. Estudi\u00e9 Biolog\u00eda en la Facultad de Ciencias de la UNAM y ah\u00ed descubr\u00ed mi pasi\u00f3n por comunicarle a todas las personas el conocimiento cient\u00edfico y su relevancia social. Creo que la ciencia, al fomentar el pensamiento cr\u00edtico, puede empoderar a la humanidad y, al ser la base de los avances tecnol\u00f3gicos, puede ayudarla a vivir en las mejores condiciones posibles.","url":"https:\/\/tecscience.tec.mx\/en\/author\/igutierrez\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tecscience.tec.mx\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tecscience.tec.mx\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tecscience.tec.mx\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tecscience.tec.mx\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tecscience.tec.mx\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=170033"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tecscience.tec.mx\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170033\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tecscience.tec.mx\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/170035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tecscience.tec.mx\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=170033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tecscience.tec.mx\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=170033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tecscience.tec.mx\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=170033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}