Facebook has significantly influenced both the quantity and quality of information available to people in several key ways:

Quantity of Information

• Facebook has greatly increased the quantity of information accessible by providing a platform where individuals and organizations can share and disseminate news, articles, and various content widely and rapidly. This has resulted in an overwhelming volume of information available to users

• The platform also facilitates sharing of research and scholarly communication, often outside public spaces, suggesting Facebook's role in information dissemination is larger than previously estimated

Quality of Information

• Despite the increase in quantity, the quality of information on Facebook has often declined. The platform has become a breeding ground for misinformation, fake news, conspiracy theories, and sensationalized or biased content, which undermines trust in the information shared

• Studies analyzing Facebook news engagement found that ideological segregation has increased over time, with the ideological gap widening between liberal and conservative audiences. Alongside this polarization, the overall quality of news consumed has declined, linked to changes in Facebook’s News Feed algorithms

• Facebook’s algorithms tend to show users content aligned with their previous interests and beliefs, creating echo chambers that limit exposure to diverse perspectives and reduce the quality of discourse and debate

Efforts Toward Transparency and Quality Control

• Meta (Facebook’s parent company) has introduced tools like the Meta Content Library and API to give researchers controlled access to publicly available data on Facebook and Instagram. This aims to increase transparency about what content is shared and how algorithms impact information flow, potentially enabling better research on social media’s societal role

• Facebook also employs information quality processes and community standards enforcement to detect and act on policy violations, including misinformation and spam, although challenges remain in fully measuring and improving these efforts

In summary, Facebook has expanded the sheer volume of information available to people but has also contributed to challenges in information quality, including misinformation and ideological polarization. Ongoing efforts by Meta to increase transparency and improve content moderation seek to address some of these issues, but concerns about the quality and diversity of information persist