MCO 427
Assessing current platforms’ attempts to curb misinformation
For this blog post I will be analyzing and comparing the steps both Instagram and Tik Tok have taken to help reduce misinformation across their platforms. It is important that platforms have some kind of system that flags misinformation being spread, as a help for their users. It is very easy to spread any information across the media because it takes one click to send, share or repost, therefore it is important that a platform is involved so they can remove misinformation.
Tik Tok
TikTok uses several strategies to address misinformation. According to TikTok’s misinformation guidelines, the platform removes certain types of harmful misinformation, particularly information that is harmful to individuals or communities. They also work with fact checking organizations to seek out potentially misleading content and use labels, as well as, other forms of context to help users understand information they encounter.
Another important part of TikTok’s approach is their recommendation system. They explain that content being allowed on the platform does not necessarily mean it will be recommended to every user. This is important because misinformation can be left available while still being limited from spreading widely through everyone’s For You feed. TikTok has also introduced Footnotes, allowing contributors to add additional context to videos. This gives users another way to evaluate information instead of relying entirely on a TikTok post to determine what is true or false.
I think their biggest strength is that they use several approaches instead of relying on one solution. Fact checking provides an outside source, while labels and additional context can help users evaluate information themselves. Limiting the recommendation of questionable content can also be useful because misinformation becomes more harmful when algorithms help it reach large audiences.
However, these policies do not prevent the spread of misinformation as it can spread quickly before it is identified and reviewed. Users may also ignore warnings or labels, especially if they already agree with the information being presented. This means that labeling misinformation does not guarantee that people will change their minds.
Instagram’s approach to misinformation has changed significantly in the past year. Meta, which owns Instagram, actually ended its U.S. third party fact checking program in 2025 and began moving toward a system called Community Notes. Under this new approach, users can provide additional context about posts instead of relying on professional fact checking organizations to determine whether content should receive a fact checking label. Meta says that notes are designed to require agreement from contributors with many different perspectives before they appear publicly.
Community Notes could be useful because not every questionable post necessarily needs to be removed. While additional information can help people understand a claim more, many people do not bother researching further or fact check, and instead take the information in for what it is.
Research from UC Berkeley provides an interesting perspective on this issue. A 2026 study examined Facebook and Instagram during the 2020 election and tested what happened when users were exposed to significantly less content from sources that frequently spread misinformation. The intervention reduced participants’ exposure to those sources by about 70%, but researchers did not find a measurable change in their political beliefs or attitudes.
This does not mean reducing misinformation is useless and instead, it shows that changing what people see still may not change what they previously believed. The researchers also found that exposure to unreliable sources was concentrated among a smaller group of users, with about 23% of Facebook users and 11% of Instagram users accounting for roughly 80% of exposure to untrustworthy sources.
How Can Platforms Improve?
Neither TikTok nor Instagram has completely eliminated misinformation, and I don’t think there is one solution that could eliminate it. However, both platforms could improve by combining several strategies instead of relying too heavily on one.
For example, platforms could use professional fact checkers while also allowing users to include additional context. Platforms could also make misinformation labels easier to understand by briefly explaining why something was flagged and providing links to reliable sources.
Another improvement would be greater transparency about recommendation algorithms. Users should have a better understanding of why certain content appears in their feeds and whether or not questionable information is being recommended to them.
Ultimately, misinformation is more complicated than simply deleting false posts. TikTok and Instagram can reduce the spread of misinformation, but they cannot completely control what users initially choose to post or believe. Their policies should focus not only on removing harmful content but also on helping users recognize questionable information and make more informed decisions.
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