Speaker
Description
Combating Fake News in Health: An online Survey
The rapid and far-reaching dissemination of misinformation on social media
is a threat to global health. As a consequence, several media platforms
have recently established tools to combat its spread like fact-checks or warning
signs of misinformation. In this research project, we assess the effectiveness
of two tools (pre- and debunking) on sharing behavior of accurate
and misleading news in the context of vaccination in Sub-Saharan Africa and
examine the underlying psychological mechanisms. A novelty of our study
is the introduction of endogenous information acquisition that allows us to
shed light on the impact of confirmatory search behavior. Using a large-scale
online survey experiment with 11,192 Facebook users from six African countries,
we show that fact-checks and forewarnings about misinformation are
reducing the sharing of misinformation. Fact-checks have a double effect,
increasing the circulation of accurate news if information is self-selected.
Generally, self-selected information are processed more intensely than nonselected
information, however are equally likely to be shared. The effects
can
