Political polarization can be related to extreme positions on social issues (“ideological”) or to showing affection for one’s group of belonging and hatred towards the opposing group (“affective”). This research on US populations shows how polarization can have significant harms on the health and well-being of individuals and collectives.
Category: Misinformation 101
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Fact check on fact-checkers
Not to get all “meta” but we need a fact check on fact checkers ✅
In an announcement made on January 7th, Meta CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, announced an end to fact-checking across their platform. In a video he stated that fact-checkers had “destroyed more trust than they have created”, but is there evidence to support this?
Not at all! On the contrary, there is measurable evidence that fact-checkers work! Fact-checking reduces the belief in and spread of misinformation, even among those who don’t trust the fact-checkers (1-7).
Removal of these policies can cause harm, so now more than ever it’s good to up our critical thinking game – here are 2 things to remember:
- Pause to think and ask yourself “Is this true?” before sharing. This is a simple proven way of slowing the spread of misinformation (8-12).
- Fact check for yourself, it’s easier than you think! Confirm the credibility of a source by searching through credible sources in another tab and comparing it to the original source. Fact-checkers call this “lateral reading” (13-19).
Fact-checking isn’t just for experts – it’s skills we can all use to evaluate claims and spot misinformation.
Sources- Warning labels from fact checkers work — even if you don’t trust them | MIT Sloan | September 2024
- Fact-checker warning labels are effective even for those who distrust fact-checkers | Nature Human Behaviour | September 2024
- The global effectiveness of fact-checking: Evidence from simultaneous experiments in Argentina, Nigeria, South Africa, and the United Kingdom | PNAS | September 2021
- Misinformation warning labels are widely effective: A review of warning effects and their moderating features | Current Opinion in Psychology | December 2023
- Political Misinformation and Factual Corrections on the Facebook News Feed: Experimental Evidence | The Journal of Politics | July 2022
- Cleaning Up Social Media: The Effect of Warning Labels on Likelihood of Sharing False News on Facebook | Policy & Internet | July 2019
- Journalistic interventions matter: Understanding how Americans perceive fact-checking labels | HKS Misinformation Review | April 2024
- Fighting misinformation: Why pausing before you share really works! | MediaSmarts | April 2022
- Accuracy prompts are a replicable and generalizable approach for reducing the spread of misinformation | Nature Communications | April 2022
- Understanding and combatting misinformation across 16 countries on six continents | Nature Human Behaviour | June 2023
- Shifting attention to accuracy can reduce misinformation online | Nature | March 2021
- Fighting COVID-19 Misinformation on Social Media: Experimental Evidence for a Scalable Accuracy-Nudge Intervention | Association for Psychological Science | June 2020
- What is lateral reading?
- Expand your view with lateral reading
- Lateral Reading and SIFT – Online Research | Libraries Central Michigan University | December 2024
- Lateral Reading: Reading Less and Learning More When Evaluating Digital Information | Teachers College Record | November 2019
- Teaching lateral reading: Interventions to help people read like fact checkers | Current Opinion in Psychology | February 2024
- Lateral reading on the open Internet: A district-wide field study in high school government classes | APA PsycNet Direct | July 2022
- Teaching lateral reading: Interventions to help people read like fact checkers | Current Opinion in Psychology | February 2024
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Fact-checking isn't just for experts – it's a skill everyone can use to evaluate claims and spot misinformation.
— ScienceUpFirst | LaScienced'Abord (@ScienceUpFirst) January 30, 2025
Read here to find out more 👉https://t.co/UMKvjBynYN#ScienceUpFirst pic.twitter.com/i6uDUgCLv6View our original Instagram Post!
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“You started working out to get a flat stomach and a fat a$$”: A content analysis of fitspiration videos on TikTok
The majority of fitspiration videos on Tiktok contain misleading/harmful diet and exercise information and are posted by fitness influencers. Male bodies are commonly presented with a muscular ideal and female bodies with a thin and fit ideal.
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Designing misinformation interventions for all: Perspectives from AAPI, Black, Latino, and Native American community leaders on misinformation educational effort
This research uses focus groups from non-profit organizations to examine misinformation types, impacts, and intervention strategies in Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI), Black, Latino, and Indigenous communities. It illustrates how educational strategies can be more effective by incorporating diverse media environments and by understanding and acknowledging the roots of mistrust in institutions and organizations.
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Politically biased moderation drives echo chamber formation: An analysis of user-driven content removals on Reddit
Discussion moderators on Reddit show political bias in content removal. This finding shows that in addition to platform creators and algorithms, content moderators can play a role in the creation and maintenance of social media echo chambers.
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Misinformer Tactics: Home Alone Edition
It’s the holiday season and that means one thing to us at ScienceUpFirst, Home Alone!
We love this movie and this year we thought it would be fun to pair parts of the film with our Misinformer Tactics. You can find all these tactics and more on our website!
Some are a bit of a stretch…but we gotta let loose at the end of the year right? 😂
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It’s the holiday season and here at ScienceUpFirst it makes us think about “Home Alone”.
— ScienceUpFirst | LaScienced'Abord (@ScienceUpFirst) December 11, 2024
This year, we thought it would be fun to match certain scenes from that classic movie with certain misinformation tactics.
See them all here! 👉https://t.co/My3IG6W95s#ScienceUpFirst pic.twitter.com/BgvEtUeakeView our original Instagram Post!
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Softly empowering a prosocial expert in the family: lasting effects of a counter-misinformation intervention in an informational autocracy
Prosocial-focused interventions – which highlight the social implications of individual actions on families and communities – showed greater discernment in misinformation detection.
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Quantifying the impact of misinformation and vaccine-skeptical content on Facebook
Mainstream media a more significant driver of vaccine hesitancy than blatantly false sources due to considerably higher viewership of mainstream media articles that raise doubts of vaccine safety and efficacy.
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Social media networks, fake news, and polarization
Bots impact information networks, increasing inaccurate news and driving polarization.
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Supersharers of fake news on Twitter
Misinformation on X is spread by a small and easily-discernable number of accounts with large followings, thus adding to the body of evidence on misinformation “supersharers.”
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The generality of belief in unsubstantiated claims
Those believing in conspiracy theories had greater inclination towards supporting superstitions, pseudoscience, and paranormal beliefs.
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Misinformer Tactic: Astroturfing
Why hello Username573927561! Great to see you again! You’re definitely a real person whose opinions I should take seriously…
Astroturfing is a practice where a message appears to have lots of grassroots support, BUT that support is actually being orchestrated by one organization or individual. The name comes from the brand of synthetic ground cover made to look like grass: AstroTurf. It looks real and natural, but it’s actually fake and artificial.
Astroturfers can use this tactic on social media, masking their identity and operating via many accounts and personas. This process can also be automated via bots. For example, twitter bots are a major source of climate misinformation.
This tactic can be used online to spread misinformation. For example, one analysis found that fear-mongering tweets about vaccines were spread not only by individuals but by coordinated networks involved in political astroturfing.
Remember, not everything you read online is trustworthy. Make sure you’re getting your news from reliable sources.
Thanks to Jordan Collver for collaborating with us on this post. Check out his work on his website and on Twitter (@JordanCollver)
Sources- Twitter Bots Are a Major Source of Climate Disinformation | Scientific American | January 2021
- An analysis of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine misinformation and fear mongering on Twitter | Public Health on PubMed Central | August 2021
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Why hello @Username573927561! 😏 You’re a real person…right?! Or is this astroturfing? 👀🌱
— ScienceUpFirst | LaScienced'Abord (@ScienceUpFirst) October 25, 2024
Don’t fall for fake grassroots support that spreads misinformation via bots or coordinated networks. Stay savvy, and trust reliable sources! 👇 https://t.co/9VwJGRDopY#ScienceUpFirst pic.twitter.com/XGi2FvXbzHView our original Instagram Post!