A new study by researchers at MIT and the University of Regina found people are less likely to digitally share false stories about COVID-19 after they’ve been asked to evaluate the accuracy of another headline.
That suggests an option for social media platforms looking to limit the spread of misinformation, the researchers say.
“There are a lot of ways the platforms could implement this that all boil down to, essentially, raising the concept of accuracy in users’ minds while they’re on platforms,” says David Rand, a professor at MIT and one of the study’s coauthors, in an interview with Fast Company.
That can be as simple as periodically surveying users about how they feel about the importance of accuracy, the researchers say. It’s a potentially easy way to approach what’s proven to be a thorny problem: widespread sharing of potentially dangerous misinformation, from conspiracy theories to dubious cures, about the deadly pandemic on social media platforms. Researchers…
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Source : fastcompany.com
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