CONSPIRACY THEORYFacebook Posts Linking to Problematic Sites at Alarming Rates
Over a hundred million American adults read news on social media. In the wake of the crisis in Ukraine, antisemitism, hate speech, and disinformation have spread widely on Facebook. Researchers found evidence of the continued presence of problematic posts on the platform, the most popular site for getting news, as well as the prevalence of external links directing users to alternative platforms and sites popular among extremists.
Over a hundred million American adults read news on social media, but in the wake of the crisis in Ukraine, antisemitism, hate speech, and disinformation have spread widely on Facebook. ADL researchers found evidence of the continued presence of problematic posts on the platform, the most popular site for getting news, as well as the prevalence of external links directing users to alternative platforms and sites popular among extremists. Roughly 61% of these posts included links to other sites, and we examined where these links went; they direct users to sites with meaningful amounts of hateful, false or otherwise harmful content. In terms of frequency, the external links on Facebook rival those to credible news sources.
While Twitter blocks links to hate speech and violence, Facebook has no such policy. Instead, it allows posts to link to conspiracies, antisemitic content, and other troubling material.
After Russia invaded Ukraine in late February 2022, social media platforms quickly responded by updating their content moderation policies to fit a wartime context. While many of these efforts are welcomed and have helped reduce disinformation, some have sown confusion and drawn criticism.
Meta’s failure to adequately respond to antisemitism on its major platform is part of a broader pattern of its negligence in moderating such hate speech. ADL gave Facebook a “C-” in our 2021 Online Antisemitism Report Card for its lackluster policies and enforcement against anti-Jewish hate; in our Online Holocaust Denial Report Card, ADL rated Facebook a “D.” Some conversations on Facebook surrounding President Zelensky and Ukraine are distorted and seek to blame Jewish people for the war through oft-repeated antisemitic conspiracies about the Great Reset and George Soros.
Spreading Antisemitism and Disinformation Through Links
ADL pulled a sample of English-language public Facebook posts from February 28 to March 30, 2022, which mentioned both a Ukraine-conflict related term (e.g., Zelensky, Ukraine, Russia, Putin) and one or more terms from a list of Jewish-related terms (e.g., Jewish, Israel, Zionism) or terms related to Nazis.
