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The Advance NZ / New Zealand Public Party is the worst offender of “half truths” and fake news on Facebook during the election campaign, according to an ongoing study.
Facebook (archive). Source: istock.com
The New Zealand social media study, led by Victoria University’s Dr Mona Krewel and Professor Jack Vowles, found that 31 percent of the party’s posts on the social media site were “half-truths”: content that is not completely false but still contains information that is not entirely accurate, while six percent were fake news.
The New Conservative Party was second in the race to publish the most “half truths” (16 percent of its Facebook posts) and fake news (3.7 percent).
ACT was third, with nine percent of its Facebook posts deemed “half-truths.” But none of their posts spreads fake news.
Vowles said it is “not surprising” that “the only parties spreading fake news on Facebook are Advance New Zealand and the New Conservative Party.”
“Advance New Zealand, which also incorporates the New Zealand Public Party, is a new party that needs a lot of media attention to have a chance of success. Negativity or conflict increases the ‘journalistic value’ of stories, “he said.
“Even before the start of the election campaign, the New Zealand Public Party was spreading conspiracy stories. … It is worrying that most of your misinformation is about Covid-19.
“If widely believed, it has the potential to become life threatening.”
Vowles said that most of the misinformation spread by the New Conservatives concerned abortion.
“They are very anti-abortion and tend to share content and images that come from right-wing religious groups in the United States,” he said.
Vowles said ACT “should definitely do better” because it was a party in Parliament.
