In a new study by the Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford analysis shows that Covid related misinformation videos primarily spread through social media, with Facebook the primary channel for sharing misinformation without sufficient fact checks in place to moderate content.
The Oxford study, ‘Covid-related Misinformation on YouTube’, examined over a million Covid-related YouTube videos which circulated on social media and identified videos YouTube had eventually removed because they contained false information. It finds that Covid-related misinformation videos do not find their audience through YouTube itself, but largely by being shared on Facebook. Data analysed by the Oxford researchers shows YouTube misinformation videos were shared nearly 20 million times on Facebook during between October 2019 and June 2020. They had a higher reach on social media than the five largest English-language news sources on YouTube, CNN, ABC News, BBC, Fox News and Al Jazeera combined, whose videos were shared 15 million times.
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