Don’t blame it on the politicians, blame it on social media: Brits think Twitter and Facebook led to Trump victory
We've heard about the evils of social media and all the supposed wasted hours we spend online, but this might be a bit much.
Apparently, nearly half of Brits think that Donald Trump would not be President-elect right now had the US election taken place before the existence of social media.
A YouGov poll of 1,658 adults that was done for Nextdoor (which is actually a social network), also found that 47 per cent of those who voted Remain in the EU referendum feel if only it wasn't for social networks like pesky Facebook and Twitter, then Britain would not have voted to leave the European Union.
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There was also the belief that social networks have become like echo chambers; as many often friend or follow people with similar viewpoints: just 23 per cent of those surveyed felt that online platforms show us alternative points of view.
And over two-thirds (68 per cent) said they wanted social media networks to do more to filter out fake news content from users' timelines.
There's been a bit of backlash brewing over the proliferation of fake news, with Facebook and Google responding last month by promising to crack down on advertising against such content.
Read more: Dump opinion polls for social media to understand people’s real preferences
The Washington Post had found the top Google result when searching "final election result" was a link to a fake news site claiming that Donald Trump won both the electoral and popular votes, which he didn't.
Max Chambers, former speechwriter for David Cameron and policy adviser at 10 Downing Street launched Nextdoor, after claiming that social media was "an important factor" in the referendum result.
The platform allows neighbours to create private online communities for themselves.