Misinformation and Platform Moderation
Introduction: Social media's rapid rise has incited concerns among policymakers and the public regarding its role in spreading misinformation.
Content moderation is a key tool to combat misinformation, but problems emerge when practiced at scale.
Definition of Misinformation
At the core of the moderation problem is the lack of a formally accepted definition for "misinformation".
A common theme among definitions is that misinformation distorts generally accepted facts, but this definition breaks down for contentious topics.
Misinformation is information that runs contrary to or distorts generally accepted facts.
Author's summary: Social media struggles with misinformation due to lack of clear definition.