Unbelievable as it sounds, scientists are looking into ways of ‘vaccinating’ us against fake news stories.
Bogus news stories can spread fast on social media and highly influence public opinions. This was recently demonstrated during the US election with fake stories about the Pope backing Trump and Hillary Clinton selling weapons to the so-called Islamic State group. With many people trusting and believing what they read online, this can be a worrying problem.
But now, scientists at the University of Cambridge are looking into ways of making us more aware of false information.
The study’s lead author Dr Sander van der Linden told the BBC: “The idea is to provide a cognitive repertoire that helps build up resistance to misinformation, so the next time people come across it they are less susceptible.”
The report itself, published in the Global Challenges journal, says: “This study finds that public attitudes about climate change can be effectively ‘inoculated’ against influential misinformation.”
Facebook is also trying to address the issue by making it easier for readers to report stories they believe to be hoaxes. Readers will also be able flag up stories as ‘disputed’, alerting other readers to their suspicions. Other measures include looking at lower rankings for articles that have not been shared and reducing financial incentives for false stories.
Facebook says: “It’s important to us that the stories you see on Facebook are authentic and meaningful. We’re excited about this progress, but we know there’s more to be done. We’re going to keep working on this problem for as long as it takes to get it right.”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-38714404
http://newsroom.fb.com/news/2016/12/news-feed-fyi-addressing-hoaxes-and-fake-news/
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/gch2.201600008/full