Listening to a show last night about researchers doing "information trees" from social media. They found that misinformation travelled 16 times faster and further than a truthful post on the same subject, in a 24 hour period.
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Falsehood will fly, as it were, on the wings of the wind, and carry its tales to every corner of the earth; whilst truth lags behind; her steps, though sure, are slow and solemn, and she has neither vigour nor activity enough to pursue and overtake her enemy -- Thomas Francklin, 1797
Different forms of this have been around for 300 years. The internet has proved it beyond a doubt.