Iffy Quotient : A Platform Health Metric for Misinformation

The Center for Social Media Responsibility at the University of Michigan School of Information has developed the Iffy Quotient, a metric for how much content from “Iffy” sites has been amplified on Facebook and Twitter. We use the term “Iffy” to describe sites that frequently publish misinformation. It is a light-hearted way to acknowledge that our categorization of the sites is based on imprecise criteria and fallible human judgments. We are publishing a web-based dashboard that charts the Iffy Quotient since early 2016. The dashboard enables comparisons over time and between platforms. This report describes the calculation of the Iffy Quotient in detail, discusses some of its potential limitations, and analyzes some of the trends.