Misinformation spreads rapidly across social media and other online platforms, posing risks to individual health and societal well-being. Research on the psychology of misinformation has proliferated in recent years, yet many questions remain about how and why misinformation spreads, how it affects behavior, and how best to counter it. Answering these questions well depends in part on how misinformation is defined; it can include inaccurate news, conspiracy theories, disinformation campaigns, propaganda, and slanted reporting. In this report, we define misinformation as “any information that is demonstrably false or otherwise misleading, regardless of its source or intention.”
Misinformation has been described as a global harm, but the amount of misinformation encountered by people is difficult to determine. Estimates indicate that it accounts for 0.2% to 29% of overall news consumption, but the proportion may be higher for specific groups or for topics such as health. The problem with current estimates is that they tend to be platform-specific, constrained to text-based information (vs. images or videos), based on limited public data, and insensitive to the fact that some groups are disproportionately targeted. Further insight requires large-scale studies in real-world settings across different social media platforms.
This report describes the best available psychological science on misinformation, particularly as it relates to health. It offers eight specific recommendations to help scientists, policymakers, and health professionals respond to the ongoing threats posed by misinformation.
Our analysis centers on three crucial questions:
- What are the psychological factors that make people susceptible to believe and act on misinformation?
- How and why does misinformation spread?
- What interventions can be used to counter misinformation effectively?
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