When Facebook started letting users post text on top of colored backgrounds in 2016, it seemed like a fairly benign way to get people to share more personal thoughts on the platform.
“Adding spice to status updates could help Facebook boost ‘original sharing’ of unique personal content, as opposed to resharing of news articles and viral videos,” TechCrunch reported at the time.
But since then, like other formats on Facebook, the text post feature has been weaponized into an effective way to spread misinformation on the platform.
Over the past few weeks, some of the most viral hoaxes on Facebook have spread in the form of text posts. They make salacious political claims without linking to any website or attaching a photo or video. They often come from regular Facebook users instead of Pages or Groups.
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Source: Forget fake news stories. False text posts are getting massive engagement on Facebook. – Poynter