After the contentious 2020 presidential election, many experts blamed Facebook for not doing enough to stop the spread of misinformation. The social media giant also took heat for hosting groups that planned the violence at the Capitol on January 6. That’s why it wasn’t exactly surprising this week when a team of researchers at Washington State University found that Facebook users were far more likely to consume and believe misinformation than users of other social media platforms.

According to these experts, the reason conspiracy-minded Facebook users encounter fake news more often is because the algorithm works to feed them information they already believe and want to hear.

“The algorithms were used to confirm people’s biases that they wanted to believe and the more they read these bias-reinforcing websites the more likely they were to feel like, ‘yeah, I believe it because I’m reading it in these news articles,” WSU professor and study co-author Robert Crossler said. “I would encourage people who primarily get their information from Facebook to look for other sources of information for news, so kind of taking control of where you’re getting news would be a good recommendation.”

As usual, it’s a good idea not to trust everything you see on Facebook. After all, the company’s own systems could be working to show you something that isn’t true.

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