Project description
How to avoid falling for fake news
Much of what you read online is fake news – hoaxes aimed to misinform readers, to influence their view on an issue or to push a political agenda. Fake news are more likely to be shared and reshared across the web, reaching millions of people in a short time. This is why misinformation-correction actions are difficult – people easily believe information they encounter repeatedly. The EU-funded MISTRUST project will examine the correction mechanism. It proposes methods to convince people to question fake news by providing information about the untrustworthiness of the source. The results of the project will help inform policies on effective ways to tackle fake news.
Objective
Every day a vast amount of misinformation and Fake News are repeated and infinitely shared, reaching millions of people in a short time. The large-scale dissemination of misinformation is one of the major challenges that current societies face, with long-lasting costs to individuals and governments. European Commission’s recent efforts in seeking advice from experts regarding measures to counteract disinformation attest to the urgency of addressing this issue.
The fact that people tend to believe in information they repeatedly encounter and to reject claims that contradict what they heard before makes misinformation-correction very difficult. Since most correction strategies entail both a repetition of the false claims and their contradiction, they ironically end up strengthening the validity of the misinformation they attempt to correct. It is thus of the utmost importance to examine the mechanisms that may contribute to the development of effective misinformation-correction actions.
This proposal contributes to that goal, addressing a novel variable - source (un)trustworthiness - with the potential to influence the effects of repetition and contradiction on perceived information validity. It is hypothesized that providing information about the untrustworthiness of the source of previous false claims will prompt individuals to scrutinize and analyze information more deeply, counteracting the effects of repetition and contradiction (which rely on superficial information processing). This research program will both advance the knowledge in the field and inform future policies to deal with the increasing amount of misinformation that is spread to the public.
The researcher conducting the project has the relevant expertise on both the specific field of research and the appropriate experimental methodologies. Additionally, the Host offers a high-quality research and training environment, and the necessary infrastructure for the successful implementation of the project.
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)Coordinator
1649 026 Lisboa
Portugal