A large and growing share of people now encounter news through social media rather than by visiting news websites directly. This has changed how news organisations work. Articles are often written with headlines designed to attract clicks and shares, and stories that provoke strong emotions tend to spread faster than calm, detailed reports. One consequence is that false or misleading information can travel quickly before it is corrected. A study of online sharing, reported in a recent academic paper, found that corrections of false stories were generally shared by far fewer people than the original stories. Many users who saw the false information never saw the correction. In response, some platforms label posts that fact-checkers have found to be misleading, and some reduce how often such posts appear in users' feeds. Critics worry that these practices give private companies too much power over public debate. Several schools have also begun teaching students how to check sources and recognise manipulated images, on the grounds that informed readers are the most reliable defence against misinformation.

Some platforms reduce how often misleading posts appear in users' feeds.