Read on Twitter
Sometimes, these lists speak for themselves. But I want to dig a little deeper into today& #39;s list, because I think it illustrates something that isn& #39;t immediately obvious. https://twitter.com/FacebooksTop10/status/1290730301434388480">https://twitter.com/Facebooks...
The #1, #4, and #10 posts on this list — representing more than 700,000 combined interactions — all link to versions of the same news story: a report about a $35 million grant from a DOJ program to organizations that house survivors of human trafficking.
Now, normally, you& #39;d be surprised that a $35 million grant by an obscure federal agency would be the highest-performing story on Facebook.
But people who follow this stuff know that stories about human trafficking, *especially* stories involving Trump, are a QAnon bat signal.
But people who follow this stuff know that stories about human trafficking, *especially* stories involving Trump, are a QAnon bat signal.
And sure enough, if you check which pages shared these stories, you& #39;ll see plenty of QAnon pages like "Follow the White Rabbit" and "The Great Awakening."
They& #39;re using the story as more evidence that Trump is breaking up a child-trafficking cabal run by Democrats.
They& #39;re using the story as more evidence that Trump is breaking up a child-trafficking cabal run by Democrats.
This is why looking at top-performing links (which Facebook has recently suggested is more accurate than looking at the posts that contain those links) can be misleading. After all, this is an AP story! What& #39;s the matter with the AP?
But the way it& #39;s being used is dangerous.
But the way it& #39;s being used is dangerous.
The engagement numbers on these stories are also way, way higher than you& #39;d assume from looking at public post performance, which means they are likely traveling through private QAnon groups and person-to-person shares. (Facebook& #39;s public tools don& #39;t track that kind of data.)
This is why it& #39;s critical for social platforms to provide data not just about which posts by influential accounts are performing well, but about which posts are spreading virally user-to-user. This is what happened with Plandemic, and it happens regularly with QAnon content.
This is also why "banning QAnon" isn& #39;t really possible. It& #39;s in the bloodstream. Right-wing influencers know they& #39;ll get huge engagement on posts about child trafficking, etc., and they can post them without fear of being censored. (Because, after all, it& #39;s just a news story.)
