New research finds rampant misinformation spreading on WhatsApp within diasporic communities

A recent study conducted by researchers from Rutgers and the University of Texas at Austin analyzed how misinformation spreads on WhatsApp, particularly in immigrant communities.

The study focused on Cuban, Indian and Mexican populations in the U.S. because of the widespread use of WhatsApp in those communities.

Kiran Garimella, an assistant professor in the Department of Library and Information Science at the School of Communication and Information and co-author of the study, said he was interested in the research topic because he is from India and has seen firsthand how popular WhatsApp is in the country.

"WhatsApp is huge in India, and there were cases of offline violence because of rumors that were spread through WhatsApp," he said. "People were lynched and killed because of certain rumors spreading on WhatsApp. And that’s when I started ... looking at how these things are spreading on the app and what can we do about them."

Garimella said that in the U.S., studies have shown that Twitter and WhatsApp are used by approximately the same number of people, but WhatsApp’s prominence is often overlooked because it is mostly used by immigrants.

"We see how important Twitter is in research studies ... WhatsApp is almost as important in the number of people that use it but doesn’t gain that sort of traction," he said.

The study was conducted by giving participants a 50- to 60-question survey that asked questions about social media and WhatsApp usage as well as the kind of content they share and view. The survey found that many use WhatsApp as their primary source of political content, Garimella said.

The issue behind content spreading on WhatsApp is the absence of fact-checking or any ability to prevent the spread of misinformation. On WhatsApp, it is impossible to track or even see how many people view misinformation, Garimella said.

The app's influence within diasporic communities leads to the spread of false ideas, such as "President Joseph R. Biden Jr. being a pro-communist leader," he said.

Rutgers students from Cuban and Indian communities within the U.S. discussed their personal experiences with misinformation on WhatsApp.

Sinan Merchant, a Rutgers Business school first-year, said that he has noticed misinformation being spread around his family group chats on WhatsApp during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and the 2020 presidential election. 

"(I don’t think this is a) predominant issue as most people are able to identify this bias, but it still affects a large portion of people in our community," he said.

Nikhil Patel, a Rutgers Business school first-year, said his immediate family does not utilize WhatsApp.

"I feel a bit disappointed and generally concerned that so many members of not only my community but others have been spreading and supporting false messages," he said. "I am surprised by how the misinformation is so easily kept available for everyone to see."

Celin Hidalgo, a School of Arts and Sciences senior, said her experiences with WhatsApp as a Cuban American differ from how people interact with WhatsApp in Cuba. She said she has not experienced biased political information but knows of her family experiencing it.

Hidalgo said the experiences of Cuban Americans are all extremely different and lead to varied viewpoints. Every person will have different experiences with how they view and value Cuba’s political and social sphere.

"Finding the correct information is a little bit difficult in our current times, you have to experience a little bit of what you don’t really agree on and see news you do agree on to find that middle ground, but you don’t really know where that middle ground is," Hidalgo said.