Social Media Roundup: Experts Say 'Fake News' Is Overblown, But Regulation Is On Its Way

Social media executives made their best pitch to American lawmakers Wednesday, with the conclusion being there is no easy solution to deal with misinformation, Jason Reifler, a professor of political science at the University of Exeter, told CNBC Thursday morning.

Reifler: Impact Of Fake Stories 'Overblown'

Facebook, Inc. FB is taking "positive first steps" in hiring humans to act as fact checkers instead of relying solely on artificial intelligence and algorithms to remove fake news, to its credit, Reifler said. Rival  platform Twitter Inc TWTR is "one step behind" in doing its part to prevent false information, he said. 

While the proliferation of "fake news" is bad for a social media platform that is counted on to deliver news, its ability to impact an election is "overblown," Reifler said. Only a "small audience" of people see false stories on social media platforms, and many of them are already politically active, he said.  

The problem is something to be concerned about and pay attention to, but it is not overtaking the political system, Reifler said. 

Porter Bibb: Regulation On The Way

The regulation of social media companies is already underway in Europe through the General Data Protection Regulation, and this could become the standard for American lawmakers to follow, Mediatech Capital Partners' Porter Bibb told Fox Business News Thursday morning. American lawmakers have no idea on how to regulate the social media space and need to "hire some teenagers to tell them how the systems work," he said. 

Naturally, social media giants don't want to be regulated and are content in "policing themselves," Bibb said. The financial cost of regulation would pull the companies' margins back from sky-high levels back to normalized levels, he said — but this isn't necessarily reason for Facebook investors to be concerned, thanks to the long-term prospects of its Instagram platform.

Instagram can become a serious competitor over time to Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN, given its recent entrance into the e-commerce space, Bibb said. The potential exists for Facebook to spin off Instagram into a new, standalone entity, as it has the potential to become larger than the core platform, he said. 

"Instagram is probably going to be the survivor of Facebook going forward." 

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