Study: False information travels 6 times faster than the truth on Twitter

Larry Beil Image
Friday, March 9, 2018
New Study: False information travels 6 times faster than the truth on Twitter
False information travels six times faster than the truth and reaches far more people on Twitter. MIT Researchers found the average false story takes about ten hours to reach 1,500 users. It takes about 60 hours for true stories to do the same.

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- False information travels six times faster than the truth and reaches far more people on Twitter. MIT Researchers found the average false story takes about ten hours to reach 1,500 users. It takes about 60 hours for true stories to do the same.

And it isn't bots that are responsible.

Researchers say it's humans spreading the bogus stories.

Connie Guglielmo, Editor-in-Chief of CNET, joined ABC7 News Thursday to discuss a 10-year study that tells us a lot about human nature and the spreading of fake news online.

Watch the video in the player above to see how fake news and people spreading it are correlated, and what can be done to stop it.

Click here to read more on the study.

Click here for more stories, photos, and video on social media.