Maggie Maloney / September 20, 2024 / MCO427
For this week’s blog we’re going to be evaluating misinformation policies on social media platforms. The two platforms I will be evaluating our LinkedIn and TikTok.
The first platform that we will be looking at is LinkedIn. You can review the LinkedIn Community Guidelines here. Within the guidelines LinkedIn shares it wants the platform to to be safe, trustworthy and professional community where we treat each other with respect and help others to succeed.
Within its community policies there is a section encouraging community members to Be Trustworthy. The Be Trustworthy guidelines ask members of the community to avoid share false or misleading content.
In exploring the links surrounding false or misleading content LinkedIn provides information around the type of content that would be considered in violation of policy. This includes post that are spreading false or misleading content. They also share that they will remove untrue claims that are presented as fact or likely to cause harm. It is worth stating that this policy information was updated three days ago, which may be reflective of the platform taking steps to increase the integrity of their policy and stop the spread of misinformation. Though the policy outlines what type of content could be considered as misinformation it does not explicitly state what the platform is doing to stop the spread of misinformation.
Digging deeper into the help categories I was able to find a help topic on misinformation and inauthentic behavior. In reviewing this portion of information posted by LinkedIn it does state that they “work with Microsoft to provide tools that assist our members in identifying trustworthy, relevant, authentic and diverse content” the assumption can be made with the associated Microsoft tools include Azure AI and machine learning Microsoft graph and other Microsoft defender and security tools alongside power BI to visualize the data however it is unclear the exact techniques that LinkedIn is utilizing to maintain the integrity of the content that is being posted.
Within the article they provide additional resources that can be utilized to help LinkedIn members identify misinformation including the news literacy project the trust project and verified. The platform encourages members of the community to report any suspicious activity. This information was last updated two years ago.
One strategy that LinkedIn did utilize to increase the integrity of the content on its platform was to take down account profiles that could not be verified or fake profiles. LinkedIn did share that this information was detected using artificial intelligence and machine learning to identify fake LinkedIn profiles. I would consider this an action against misinformation as fake profiles can often be used to spread misinformation and disinformation. Actions against us began according to the blog by Paul Rockwell in August of 2019.
The second platform that we will evaluate is TikTok. At first glance TikTok has an entire article from September of 2024 surrounding harmful misinformation. The guide opens by saying that it will not only outline the rules but the tools and tactics that are being utilized to promote a trustworthy experiences on TikTok and beyond. Much like LinkedIn it reserves the right to remove and act against misinformation regardless of intent.
Within the harmfulness information guide that provides an outline of how you can look for context clues on whether you are consuming realistic or truthful information including information from AI generated content and high-profile creators versus unverified content labels. It also states that it is using fact checking organizations around the world to help connect you to trustworthy information within its platform.
In addition to the misinformation guide TikTok has an integrity and authentication help document released in April of 2024. The integrity and authentication documentation went into effect on May 17th of 2024. This is an indicator that integrity and authentication is a relatively new policy to the TikTok platform.
What I did appreciate about TikTok was the transparency around what the platform is doing to authentic the information on the platform. In visiting the link on what TikTok is doing to combat misinformation on TikTok. In fact, TikTok’s documentation states that it is using 19 IFCN-accredited fact checking organizations to assess the accuracy of content.
It appears that TikTok is doing more to act against misinformation on its platform. Though LinkedIn is allusive in what it is doing to manage the spread of misinformation, it is also not making the news in the spread of misinformation.
In doing a quick google search on “How much misinformation is being spread” on each platform and looking at recent news postings the findings were alarming. Though TikTok has implemented some very in-depth policies and practices to stop the spread of misinformation they are still making headlines.
On the contrary it has been several years since LinkedIn made headlines in the spread of misinformation.
I think that in LinkedIn’s situation they could be more transparent about what they are doing to spread misinformation. One thing that I do often notice on LinkedIn is much like other platforms controversial or emotionally driven content will often have greater reach than thought leadership. One area where I feel like LinkedIn excels is at taking down fake profiles, which is one way to stop the spread of misinformation.
As far as TikTok I think they are very transparent with what they’re doing but perhaps more advanced techniques are needed to promote the right type of content.
One recommendation would be to readjust the algorithms to promote authentic content over trending content. Additionally, I believe that technology is needed to suppress bots from interacting and boosting content on social media platforms.
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