Middle Eastern state media accounts get hundreds of millions of views on TikTok and Meta, shaping international news. The platforms promised to label them — but haven’t done so.In 2020, social media giants Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter confronted a problem: state-run news outlets were racking up hundreds of millions of views on their platforms from users who didn’t realize that they were consuming foreign government propaganda.
In 2022, TikTok followed suit, rushing out an “expedited” version of a labeling policy for Russian and Ukrainian outlets after Russia invaded Ukraine. “An extra layer of context can be helpful to viewers, especially in times of war and conflict zones,”. It would subsequently extend labeling to nearly 100 countries worldwide, including many that do not have any state media outlets.
Unlabeled state media entities from countries like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are accruing hundreds of millions of views on social media platforms as they report on the war, selectively highlighting facts and shaping narratives — because TikTok, Meta and Twitter have not labeled them as such.analysis showed that unlabeled TikTok videos about the conflict from just two such outlets, Al Arabiya and The National News, have been viewed more than 100 million times.
TikTok spokesperson Jamie Favazza said the company is “transparent about our approach to state-affiliated media,” but declined to answer questions about any plans to label Middle Eastern outlets in the future. Meta declined to comment. An auto-reply sent from the Twitter press email account said, “Busy now, check back later.”that these labels do work; when people know that a post came from a state media outlet, they are “less likely to believe, like, read, share, and comment on the posts.
Technology Technology Latest News, Technology Technology Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Source: PhoneArena - 🏆 322. / 59 Read more »
Source: PhoneArena - 🏆 322. / 59 Read more »