Shedding light on the scale of the disinformation business on Facebook, whose annual market would be of the order of one billion dollars Americans according to some estimates.
Introduction
Good that Facebook has strengthened its fight against disinformation in recent years, the fake ones news continue to proliferate on the social network and represent a juicy market for certain players. In this article, we will review the numerical estimates regarding the revenue generated by the dissemination of disinformation on the platform and the implications for the media ecosystem.
A market estimated at nearly 1 billion of dollars
According to some evaluations, the annual market linked to the intentional publication of false information on Facebook could reach no less than 1 billion of dollars Americans. This figure is based on the considerable number of shares and clicks generated by misleading content, which allow authors and disseminators of disinformation to monetize their audience through advertising.
Even if a significant part of the sharing is done by well-intentioned but unsuspecting users, THE “click factories” manage to generate significant flows to propagate their lies. This represents a substantial financial windfall for unscrupulous players in the “fake news business”.
A lucrative economic model
How do these groups manage to profit from false information on Facebook ? First of all, by creating fake pages, portals and accounts presented as independent media. They then publish massively on their own network of fake accounts to quickly boost traffic.
Once the content goes viral, admins cleverly direct traffic to moderately sketchy sites filled with ads. Some even install malware. They can also resell the personal data collected to the highest bidders. Brief, a juicy and well-established economic model.
Long-term impacts
In addition to the damage caused to public information and democratic debate, this lucrative market raises questions about the sustainability of independent journalism. Already weakened by the revolution digital, serious media are struggling with the rapid spread of fake news.
Public authorities will have to think about ways to dry up the advertising bonanza from disinformation factories. For its part, Facebook has an interest in better controlling viral content if the objective is to rebuild trust in its platform.
Although complex to resolve, this problem deserves a concerted mobilization of the actors concerned to clean up the information space on the Internet and guarantee the future of quality journalism.