Amid growing concerns about misinformation on social media, scholars, educators, and commentators see news literacy as a means to improve critical media consumption. We use a ...nationally-representative sample to investigate the relationship between news literacy (NL), seeing and posting news and political content on social media, and skepticism toward information shared on social media. This study finds NL and related orientations contribute to who is seeing and sharing information on social media, with those who are more knowledgeable about media structures seeing and sharing less content. Moreover, those who are more news literate and value NL are more skeptical of information quality on social media. Seeing and posting news and political content on social media are not associated with skepticism. This study suggests that NL plays an important role in shaping perceptions of information shared online.
Efforts to address misinformation on social media have special urgency with the emergence of coronavirus disease (COVID-19). In one effort, the World Health Organization (WHO) designed and publicized ...shareable infographics to debunk coronavirus myths. We used an experiment to test the efficacy of these infographics, depending on placement and source. We found that exposure to a corrective graphic on social media reduced misperceptions about the science of 1 false COVID-19 prevention strategy but did not affect misperceptions about prevention of COVID-19. Lowered misperceptions about the science persisted >1 week later. These effects were consistent when the graphic was shared by the World Health Organization or by an anonymous Facebook user and when the graphics were shared preemptively or in response to misinformation. Health organizations can and should create and promote shareable graphics to improve public knowledge.
Social media are often criticized for being a conduit for misinformation on global health issues, but may also serve as a corrective to false information. To investigate this possibility, an ...experiment was conducted exposing users to a simulated Facebook News Feed featuring misinformation and different correction mechanisms (one in which news stories featuring correct information were produced by an algorithm and another where the corrective news stories were posted by other Facebook users) about the Zika virus, a current global health threat. Results show that algorithmic and social corrections are equally effective in limiting misperceptions, and correction occurs for both high and low conspiracy belief individuals. Recommendations for social media campaigns to correct global health misinformation, including encouraging users to refute false or misleading health information, and providing them appropriate sources to accompany their refutation, are discussed.
Research on social media and research on correcting misinformation are both growing areas in communication, but for the most part they have not found common ground. This study seeks to bridge these ...two areas, considering the role that social media may play in correcting misinformation. To do so, we test a new function of Facebook, which provides related links when people click on a link within Facebook. We show users a post containing misinformation, and then manipulate the related stories to either confirm, correct, or both confirm and correct the misinformation. Findings suggest that when related stories correct a post that includes misinformation, misperceptions are significantly reduced.
A number of solutions have been proposed to address concerns about misinformation online, including encouraging experts to engage in corrections of misinformation being shared and improving media ...literacy among the American public. This study combines these approaches to examine whether news literacy (NL) messages on social media enhance the effectiveness of expert correction of misinformation on Twitter. Two experiments suggest that expert organizations can successfully correct misinformation on social media across two controversial issues with a single tweet. However, three different NL messages did not improve the effectiveness of expert corrections. We discuss the difficulties of crafting NL messages that break through the clutter on social media and suggest guidelines for organizations attempting to address misinformation online.
Scholars (including in this issue of AJPH) have debated which interventions limit the spread of health misinformation on social media, including promoting high-quality information, removing ...misinformation from platforms, and inoculating people against misinformation by bolstering news, information, and health literacy. Unfortunately, these preventative solutions cannot eliminate health misinformation, necessitating strategies that respond to misinformation to limit its pernicious influence on public attitudes and behaviors. Corrections-the presentation of information designed to rebut an inaccurate claim or a misperception -are an important treatment for misinformation. Despite the relative stickiness of misinformation, corrections are typically effective in reducing beliefs in health misinformation, although they are less so as issues become more polarized or beliefs become embedded in an individual's self-concept.
This study tests whether the number (1 vs. 2) and the source (another user vs. the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC) of corrective responses affect successful reduction of ...misperceptions. Using an experimental design, our results suggest that while a single correction from another user did not reduce misperceptions, the CDC on its own could correct misinformation. Corrections were more effective among those higher in initial misperceptions. Notably, organizational credibility was not reduced when correcting misinformation, making this a low-cost behavior for public health organizations. We recommend that expert organizations like the CDC immediately and personally rebut misinformation about health issues on social media.
Social media are often criticized as serving as a source of misinformation, but in this study we examine how they may also function to correct misperceptions on an emerging health issue. We use an ...experimental design to consider social correction that occurs via peers, testing both the type of correction (i.e., whether a source is provided or not) and the platform on which the correction ocratcurs (i.e., Facebook versus Twitter). Our results suggest that a source is necessary to correct misperceptions about the causes of the Zika virus on both Facebook and Twitter, but the mechanism by which such correction occurs differs across platforms. Implications for successful social media campaigns to address health misinformation are addressed.
As concerns grow about the spread of misinformation through social media, scholars have called for improving the public's media literacy as a potential solution. This study examines the effectiveness ...of deploying news literacy (NL) messages on social media by testing whether NL tweets are able to affect perceptions of information credibility and NL beliefs. Using two experiments, this study tests NL tweets designed to (a) mitigate the impact of exposure to misinformation about two health issues (genetically modified foods and the flu vaccine) and (b) boost people's perceptions of their own media literacy and media literacy's value to society broadly. Findings suggest that NL messages are able to alter misinformation perceptions and NL beliefs, but not with a single message, suggesting the need to develop tailored and targeted NL campaigns that feature multiple messages and calls to action.
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