London, on August 28th.
Researchers discovered that people in local Facebook groups have seen many fake posts. These posts included untrue stories about children who were missing or dangerous snakes that were loose.
A charity in the UK called Full Fact found more than 1,200 false posts on community groups on a social media site. The charity believes there are probably even more false posts that they haven’t found yet.
According to the researchers, these misleading posts can flood users with fake information, aiming to scare communities. This can potentially overshadow real warnings and pleas.
The researchers think that people might be sharing this content to make money or to advertise products or services.
Although many people in the UK believed false information, similar posts were also found in the US and Australia.
Also, the researchers discovered that most of the things people were sharing were about children who are lost and elderly people who receive money after they retire. According to other reports, there were people who killed others multiple times and men carrying sharp tools, like knives, who were walking around the streets.
There were several posts saying that a man with a knife was hurting people in many cities.
“The people creating hoaxes understand that these posts can spread widely, and now Facebook groups in many places are getting flooded with fake information,” explained Steve Nowottny, the editor of Full Fact.
“People who are genuinely warning about dangers or desperately appealing for help, like those who are searching for missing loved ones or pets, are now more likely to be ignored,” he said.
Experts say that when Facebook users click on links in edited fake posts, they often end up on a real website of a real company or organization. However, this happens through a different website and a special link, which earns some money for someone else.
“We have created the biggest worldwide network for fact-checking among all platforms. We have teamed up with over 90 independent fact-checking organizations, such as Full Fact, to address false information on the internet,” said a spokesperson from Meta.
We don’t allow fraud on our platforms. We took down the posts that Full Fact pointed out to us because they went against our rules. “We are always working on improving our methods to prevent scams and catch the people responsible for them,” the statement said.
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