Misinformation
Today, social media can disperse information to millions of people in a matter of minutes. In the event of a tragedy, social media is often used to share valuable information to those affected including instructions, locations of shelters, and evacuation advisories. However, more than a place to find guidance, social media is a place where individuals can share their ideas and opinions. With virtually no limit to what a person can express on social media, the threat of misinformation is extensive throughout social media platforms. Farida Vis (2014), is a researcher at the University of Sheffield. Vis explains that when mainstream news media is slow in responding to an event it “creates a vacuum in which misinformation easily spreads.” The misinformation that runs rampant throughout social media is detrimental to society’s understanding towards a particular event.
To begin, we have to understand why individuals are vulnerable to misinformation. According to research conducted by Lewandowsky, Ecker, Seifert, Schwarz, and Cook (2012), people are more likely to accept new information rather than be skeptical of it. The tendency to accept rather than object creates an environment where individuals will believe the first credible source of information they come across.
Furthermore, the motivation for people to accept information rather than object may stem from the psyche of the individual. Southwell and Thorson (2015) conclude that “People consider the consistency of new information with their existing set of beliefs, assessing whether an idea fits previously held notions” (p. 590). For example, individuals who lean far to the right on the political spectrum will be more likely to believe negative statements regarding President Obama compared to a person who leans to the left.
There are significant consequences regarding an individual’s tendency not to think objectively towards information and using their preexisting beliefs to determine credibility. As Southwell and Thorson (2015) explain, one negative outcome of not thinking objectively is that popular news sources can fabricate and spread misinformation to influence a segment of a population (p. 590). A fantastic example is the denial of climate change in the Republican Political party. The GOP has politicized climate change convincing their followers it is a hoax. The result of this false claim is a severely misinformed segment of the population who disregard scientific evidence of human’s impact on the environment.
Although misinformation can be purposefully distributed to influence a segment of the population, there are cases in which misinformation is spread based on false knowledge. After the attack on September 11, 2001, the United States was on high alert towards outside threats. One significant threat was the possibility of Iraq having weapons of mass destruction. According to Hochschild and Einstein (2015), after Colin Powell’s 2003 speech in which he stated the American government has evidence of Iraq developing weapons of mass destruction, support towards an Iraq invasion grew (p.589–590). Furthermore, the news media covered this information with little skepticism, causing a significant portion of the population to be misinformed.
When misinformation does spread, whether by the news media or social media, the issues it creates are endless. Furthermore, correcting misinformation is difficult and not always effective. As Vicario (2016) explains, misinformation can create a set of beliefs within an individual that are extremely resistant to correction (p. 8). An obvious example is the accusation that President Obama was not born in the United States. The accusation was an attempt to discredit Obama’s run for the presidency and persuade his supporters to vote for his opponent, John McCain. Despite President Obama releasing his birth certificate in 2011, a segment of the population that still believes he was not born in the United States. A survey conducted by Clinton and Roush at NBC News in 2016 shows that “Seventy-two percent of registered Republican voters still doubt President Obama’s citizenship”. The refusal of individuals to accept the evidence proving President Obama’s citizenship demonstrates how difficult misinformation can be to correct.
Given that we now live in the age of social media, the prevalence of misinformation is always growing and even harder to stop. With millions of people potentially spreading false information, it is essential that people be skeptical towards what they see and hear via social media. After the 2016 terrorist attacks in Nice, France, Katie Rogers (2016) explains that social media users were wrongly identifying individuals as responsible for the attack and spreading rumors that the Eiffel Tower caught fire. The rumors and hoaxes posted on social media can spread to millions in a short amount of time creating a rapidly growing misinformed population.
In the past, individuals relied solely on the news media for information. However, today, people are just as likely to get it from social media. Therefore, the threat of an individual receiving false information has risen. Because individuals are more likely to accept new information that falls in line with their preexisting beliefs and the difficulty of correcting false information, the spread of misinformation is harmful to society’s understanding.
References
Clinton, J., & Roush, C. (2016). Poll: Persistent partisan divide over ‘birther’ question. NBC News.
Del Vicario, M., Bessi, A., Zollo, F., Petroni, F., Scala, A., Caldarelli, G., & Quattrociocchi, W. (2016). The spreading of misinformation online. Proceedings Of The National Academy Of Sciences Of The United States Of America, 113(3), 554–559. doi:10.1073/pnas.1517441113
Hochschild, J. L., & Einstein, K. L. (2015). Do facts matter? Information and misinformation in American politics. Political Science Quarterly (Wiley-Blackwell), 130(4), 585–624. doi:10.1002/polq.12398
Lewandowsky, S., Ecker, U. H., Seifert, C. M., Schwarz, N., & Cook, J. (2012). Misinformation and its correction: Continued influence and successful debiasing. Psychological Science In The Public Interest, 13(3), 106–131. doi:10.1177/1529100612451018
Rogers, K. (2016). After truck attack in Nice, misinformation quickly spreads online. New York Times.
Southwell, B. G., & Thorson, E. A. (2015). The prevalence, consequence, and remedy of misinformation in mass media systems. Journal Of Communication, 65(4), 589–595. doi:10.1111/jcom.12168
Vis, F. (2014). The rapid spread of misinformation online. The Huffington Post.
