Analyzing Interventions to Counteract Misinformation Online

The internet and social media have drastically reduced the cost of disseminating information, allowing a variety of perspectives to flourish while encouraging more participation from underrepresented voices. At the same time, however, this new online ecosystem has contributed to several interlinked problems in American political discourse, including the spread of misinformation, disagreements about basic facts, and lowered trust in established media. Over the past several years, experts have proposed a number of ideas to mitigate these issues and reduce exposure to misleading information. In this virtual event, leading scholars presented new research about misinformation and the impact of several popular interventions to counteract it online.

Panelists

• Kevin Aslett - Postdoctoral Fellow, NYU’s Center for Social Media and Politics

• Nadia Brashier - Assistant Professor in Psychological Sciences, Purdue University

• David Rand - Professor of Management Science and Brain & Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

• Zeve Sanderson - Executive Director, NYU’s Center for Social Media and Politics (moderator)

Video

Research

The following is a list of research presented during the webinar:

• The Psychology of Fake News (PDF, Tweet, 15 minute video)

• Understanding and Reducing Online Misinformation Across 16 Countries on Six Continents (PDF, Tweet)

• Accuracy prompts are a replicable and generalizable approach for reducing the spread of misinformation (PDF)

• Shifting attention to accuracy can reduce misinformation online (PDF, Tweet, Op-Ed)

• Scaling up fact-checking using the wisdom of crowds (PDF, Tweet, Op-Ed)

• Timing matters when correcting fake news (PDF, Tweet)

• News credibility labels have limited average effects on news diet quality and fail to reduce misperceptions (PDF, Tweet)

• List of all papers from Rand group on misinformation (Google Doc)