Fact checkers need to flag real news. Warnings against fake news often make unlabeled misinformation more credible.

Warnings against fake news often make unmarked misinformation more credible - the most important thing to start with:

A study shows that warning labels on fake news can make unlabeled false information appear trustworthy and therefore be shared. A note that a review is still pending would be helpful.

Warnings against fake news on social media make reports that have not yet been flagged because they have not yet been verified more credible. Although such notices combat the spread of certain misinformation, users are more likely to trust fake news that has not been identified as such by fact checkers, as a study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology shows.

The researchers therefore recommend that fact checkers on social media immediately place a note about the truthfulness of content after each check. Notes that an inspection is still pending are also helpful. Users would then understand more quickly that a message that has not yet been marked is not automatically correct, but has just not been checked yet.

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“Use your own mind”

“Once posts are marked as fake news and users are informed about it, they are more likely to trust unmarked content and share it. However, every user is still obliged to use their own judgment, regardless of whether the content has been marked as fake or not. You should always question whether a post is plausible and, if in doubt, do some research rather than sharing and distributing the content carelessly,” says social media expert Tim Wisdom in an interview with pressetext.

The research team conducted several online experiments with 6,739 participants from the USA. They were shown several Facebook-style news headlines. Some of them were wrong, others were right, and some of them were marked with clues that marked them as either true or untrue. Finally, participants were asked whether they would share this content themselves on social media.

Verification instructions help

The study shared almost a third (29.8 percent) of the content that did not have a warning. Only 16.1 percent of posts branded as fake news would be forwarded. However, the warnings also had a negative effect on study participants' perceptions that they had shared 36.2 percent of unlabeled fake news. However, when given a combination of warnings about fake news and references to verified news, the study participants were less gullible. In this case, they only shared 13.7 percent of the posts defined as false and 26.9 percent of the hidden fake news.

Source: Pressetext.com
Article image: Shutterstock / By Roobcio


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Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )