Full article at niemanlab.org
Misinformation is a global concern with socio-economic and political consequences. What drives its spread? The answer lies in the reward structure of social media that encourages users to form habits of sharing news that engage others and attract social recognition. Once users form these sharing habits, they automatically respond to repeated signals within the website and are relatively insensitive to the informational consequences of the news shared, regardless of whether the news is false or in conflict with their political beliefs. However, the habitual sharing of misinformation is not inevitable: Research suggests that users can be encouraged to build sharing habits that are sensitive to the value of truth. Thus, reducing misinformation requires changing the online environments that promote and support its distribution.
Why do people spread misinformation on social media? In a study conducted in the US, it was shown that the structure of online sharing built into social platforms is more important than individual deficits in critical reasoning and partisan biases. Due to reward-based learning systems in social media, users form habits of sharing information that attracts the attention of others. Once habits are formed, information sharing is automatically activated by signals on the platform without considering the results of the response from users such as the spread of misinformation. As a result of users’ habits, 30 to 40% of the fake news spread was due to the 15% most common news distributors. Suggesting that the spread of fake news is part of a broader pattern of feedback created by social media platforms, ordinary users also shared information that challenged their political beliefs. The spread of fake news is not an inevitable consequence of user habits: social media sites can be restructured to create habits for sharing accurate information.
Is social media designed to reward people for bad behavior?
The answer is clearly yes, given that the reward structure on social media platforms relies on popularity, as indicated by the number of responses – likes and comments – that a post receives from other users. Algorithms then further amplify the spread of posts that have attracted attention.
Sharing the most read content, in itself, is not a problem. But it becomes a problem when controversial content that attracts attention is given priority by design. Given the design of social media sites, users form habits to automatically share the most appealing information, regardless of its accuracy and potential harm. Offensive statements, attacks on groups, and fake news are amplified, and misinformation often spreads further and faster than the truth.
The problem with the spread of misinformation driven by emotions is significant. Facebook’s own research shows that being able to share already shared content with a single click fuels misinformation. Thirty-eight percent of views of text misinformation and 65% of views of photo misinformation come from content that has been reshared twice.
Do the right thing and do it well.
The researchers suggest that by using existing rewards on social media to create incentives for accuracy, the spread of misinformation can be addressed without significantly disrupting the websites' business models. This has the added advantage of changing rewards instead of introducing content restrictions, which are often controversial and costly in financial and human terms.
Implementing a reward system for news sharing carries minimal costs and can be easily integrated into existing platforms. The main idea is to offer users rewards in the form of social recognition when they share accurate news content. This can be achieved by introducing reply buttons to indicate trust and accuracy. By incorporating social recognition for accurate content, algorithms that amplify known content can leverage people’s resources to identify and amplify true information.