Title: Trends in the Diffusion of Misinformation on Social Media,
Abstract: We measure trends in the diffusion of misinformation on Facebook and Twitter
between January 2015 and July 2018. We focus on stories from 570 sites that
have been identified as producers of false stories. Interactions with these
sites on both Facebook and Twitter rose steadily through the end of 2016.
Interactions then fell sharply on Facebook while they continued to rise on
Twitter, with the ratio of Facebook engagements to Twitter shares falling by
approximately 60 percent. We see no similar pattern for other news, business,
or culture sites, where interactions have been relatively stable over time and
have followed similar trends on the two platforms both before and after the
election.