Right-Leaning Facebook Content Dominated On Day Roe V. Wade Overturned, Study Shows

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On the day Roe v. Wade was overturned, right-leaning Facebook pages received more than 7.6 million interactions related to the decision – more than double that of left-leaning and ideologically nonaligned pages – a study found, even though numerous polls show the majority of Americans were not in favor of annulling the historic ruling that established a federal right to an abortion.

PARIS, FRANCE – SEPTEMBER 09: In this photo illustration, the Facebook logo is displayed on a TV … [+] screen on September 09, 2019 in Paris, France. Several US states have launched antitrust investigations against web giants including Facebook and Google with the viewer their business practices, but also the collection and exploitation of personal data. In total, eight states have announced, via the attorneys general, the opening of an antitrust investigation against Facebook social media. (Photo by Chesnot/Getty Images)

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Key Facts

The study conducted by Media Matters, a left-wing media watchdog group, used the Facebook-owned tool CrowdTangle to analyze 771 right-leaning pages, 497 ideologically nonaligned pages and 505 left-leaning pages on June 24.

Though right-leaning pages made up just 28% of all the posts studied, they accounted for 52% of the total of 14.9 million interactions, far more than ideologically nonaligned pages, which accounted for 55% of total posts but only 25% of interactions.

Left-leaning pages accounted for 17% of all posts and 24% of interactions.

According to the study, right-leaning pages accounted for seven of the 10 posts about the court’s ruling with the most interactions.

A May CNN poll found that 66% of Americans did not want the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade, while a CBS poll taken immediately after the decision found that 59% disapproved of the ruling.

Key Background

Right-leaning communities have long found viral success on social media sites, especially Facebook. It’s heavily debated why conservative voices thrive on Facebook, but one Facebook executive told Politico in 2020 it’s because “right-wing populism is always more engaging.” After Politico leaked the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade ruling in May, abortion misinformation surged on a Facebook, along with Twitter, YouTube and TikTok.

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