How do we convince people to stop sharing misinformation on social media?

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2024-06-12 04:00

Australia; VIC; WA

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Making social media users declare they believe a news story to be true before sharing it may reduce the amount of misinformation they share, according to Australian researchers. The team tested two types of prompts before study participants chose whether to share a series of social media news posts. The first prompt, called the 'accuracy prompt', asked participants whether they believed a post was true before asking them whether they wished to share it. The second prompt was similar, but participants were told they were only allowed to share posts they believed were true, a strategy the researchers call 'self-certification'. The researchers say participants in the self-certification group were less likely to share misinformation than the accuracy prompt group and a group given no prompts. The accuracy prompt group, however, were just as likely to share misinformation as the group without prompts, with participants choosing to share posts they believed were false. The team says, while it is still possible to lie about whether you believe a post is true, self-certification could be a strategy worth exploring to reduce the spread of misinformation online.