In order to reduce the spread of fake news, social media should offer two additional buttons to click in addition to the “Like” button. This is what Tali Sharot from the Max Planck UCL Center for Computational Psychiatry and Aging Research at University College London . She is supported by experts from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology . The buttons should be labeled “Trust” and “Distrust,” according to the suggestion.
Combating fake news inadequate
“In recent years, the spread of fake news has skyrocketed, contributing to the polarization of the political sphere and influencing people’s beliefs on everything from vaccine safety to climate change to tolerance of diversity. Existing options to combat this, such as flagging erroneous posts, have had limited impact.”
Tali Sharot
One reason false information spreads so quickly is that posts are rewarded with likes and shares, but there is no incentive to share only what is true. Sharot and her team developed a simulated social media platform that 951 study participants used in six experiments to test their theory about the effect of additional buttons.
The platforms gave users the opportunity to like and share messages, half of which were true and half of which were false. Other users also had the option of reacting with “trust” or “distrust”. Result: The “Trust/Distrust” buttons were used more frequently by the test subjects than the “Like” button. In addition, users posted more true information than false information in order to be rewarded with a “trust” vote from the recipients. They also shared more true posts than false ones.
New buttons can be easily integrated
“Buttons indicating the trustworthiness of information could easily be integrated into existing social media platforms. Our results suggest that this reduces the spread of misinformation without reducing user loyalty. While it is difficult to predict how this would play out in the real world with a wider range of influences, given the serious risks of online misinformation, this could be a valuable addition to ongoing efforts to combat fake news.”
Sharot's doctoral student Laura Globig
Source:
Press release
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