Facebook

Facebook plans to spend $2M to fund research to enrich its understanding of the "challenges related to misinformation, polarization, information quality, and conflict on social media and social technology platforms," according to its RFP.

The goal is "to minimize the effects of negative experiences people encounter on our platforms" and to contribute the findings "to the broader industry on how social technology companies can better address social issues on their platforms.

The RFP lists area of exploration as:

  • Health Misinformation…. "Proposals around how to categorize and detect such content, how it spreads, the motivations that drive creation/distribution, the downstream effects of exposure (on attitudes and health outcomes), and how to measure and conduct effective interventions (both proactive campaigns to promote positive online/offline health outcomes and defensive measures to limit the reach of misinformation."
  • Quantifying Harms of Information... "Factors including its perceived credibility, resistance to correction after exposure, and downstream consequences on offline attitudes or behaviors."
  • Information Processing of Sensational, Hateful, Divisive or Provocative Content.... "We are interested in understanding how people across different backgrounds, communities, and cultures interact with, are affected by, and decide to promote or share the spectrum of possibly problematic content."
  • Dangerous Speech, Conflict and Violence... "Projects that focus on actors, content, and behaviors related to sharing inflammatory, offensive, or dangerous content are encouraged."
  • Misinformation, multimedia and formats..."We are interested in cognition and susceptibility in the face of either simple or advanced manipulated multimedia (misleading synthetic 'deepfakes' and simpler edited 'cheapfakes,' particularly investigating the impact on people’s attitudes and behaviors. Additional areas could include the dynamics of rumors, out-of-context imagery, impersonation of public figures/organizations, etc.."
  • News, Trust and information quality,... "Proposals that examine news consumers’ and non-consumers’ exposure to, interaction with, and understanding of qualities of information, especially their attitudes and interpretations of news quality, trust, and bias."
  • Digital Literacy, Demographics and Misinformation. "We welcome proposals that explore the relation between digital literacy and vulnerability to misinformation in communication technologies. Especially in some emerging markets, social media platforms have gained many participants among those new to the internet and populations with lower exposure to technology."

The research findings will be shared with the scientific, policy and social media communities.

The awards will be made as unrestricted gifts "to allow investigators the freedom to deepen and extend their existing research portfolios to study the social impact of online interaction and information technologies."

Facebook wants responses from academic institutions or non-governmental organizations with recognized legal status in their respective country. 

Awards will range from $50K to $150K. Applications are due May 6.

Click here for the RFP.