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Why Ukrainian war misinformation spreads so quickly on TikTok – Source fastcompany.com

A new report from Harvard researchers finds that TikTok remains a rich source of misinformation and disinformation about Ukraine—and explains why it spreads so easily.

The same tools and features that have brought the funny (and sometimes the genius) out of regular people on TikTok can also be used to manipulate content to spread misinformation at scale, the research suggests.

The report, called “TikTok, The War on Ukraine, and 10 Features That Make the App Vulnerable to Misinformation,” comes from the Technology and Social Change project (TaSC) at Harvard’s Shorenstein Center, which is led by noted misinformation researcher Joan Donovan.

The Harvard group began monitoring and cataloging TikTok posts about Ukraine on Feb 24, 2022, the day Russia invaded the country. As of March 9, TikToks tagged #ukraine had been viewed 26.8 billion times, the researchers note.

It’s often hard for users, even seasoned journalists, to discern the difference between truth and rumor on TikTok,…

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Source : fastcompany.com

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