![]() ![]() ![]() They found showing people the videos made them better at spotting the techniques - and less likely to say they would share posts that use them. Over at Google, Goldberg and her team worked with academic psychologists on experiments using 90-second videos to explain common misinformation tactics including emotionally manipulative language and scapegoating. "This data shows us that there's a lot of promise and a lot of potential, not just in mitigating misinformation after it spreads, but in getting ahead of it to try to educate, share context, prompt critical thinking, and overall help people be savvier consumers of the information that they're seeing online," Roth said. It found 39% reported they were more confident there would be no election fraud, 50% paused and questioned what they were seeing, and 40% sought out more information. Twitter surveyed users who saw prebunks during the 2020 election - specifically, messages in their timelines warning of misleading information about mail-in ballots and explaining why final results could be delayed. And in fact, they can be a lot more universally appealing for people to reject."īut there's enough evidence supporting the use of prebunks that Twitter and Google are embracing the strategy. "People don't have preexisting biases, necessarily, about those things. Prebunks focused on techniques or broader narratives rather than specific claims can avoid triggering partisan or emotional reactions, Google's Goldberg said. "And certainly local election officials are really on the front lines of this because they're right there in the community where voters are." "Every day, people are hearing new rumors, new misconceptions or misunderstandings of the way elections are administered in their state," said Amy Cohen, NASED executive director. The overall message? Election officials are the most reliable source of election information. In the past few years, those lessons are starting to be applied more broadly in campaigns encouraging critical thinking, pointing out manipulative tactics, and pre-emptively countering false narratives with accurate information.Īhead of this year's midterm elections, the National Association of State Election Directors launched a toolkit for local officials with videos, infographics and tip sheets in English and Spanish. Researchers at the University of Cambridge found that after people played Bad News, they were less likely to think tweets using those same techniques were reliable. They learn to use techniques including impersonation, appeals to emotions like fear and anger, and amplification of partisan grievances. To test inoculation theory, researchers have created games like Bad News, where players post conspiracy theories and false claims, with the goal of gaining followers and credibility. ![]() "So it's a little bit like getting physically inoculated against a disease."Įlections New data sheds light on one method to combat election lies "The idea that you can build mental armor or mental defenses against something that's coming in the future and trying to manipulate you, if you learn a little bit about it," said Beth Goldberg, head of research and development at Jigsaw, a division within Google that develops technology to counter online threats. The strategy stems from a field of social psychology research called inoculation theory. The idea: show people the tactics and tropes of misleading information before they encounter it in the wild - so they're better equipped to recognize and resist it. They're all examples of a strategy known as "prebunking" that's become an important pillar of how tech companies, nonprofits and government agencies respond to misleading and false claims about elections, public health and other hot-button issues. Twitter will soon roll out prompts in users' timelines reminding them final results may not come on Election Day. Untangling Disinformation Social media firms are prepping for the midterms. ![]()
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