One way to combat the misinformation pandemic
We are all suffering from a pandemic of misinformation.[1] An epidemiologist might be able to help.[2] But, in a practical sense, how would this work?
Here’s one idea from Wall Street Journal reporter Jeff Horwitz, quoted in this article from the Harvard Kennedy school.[3]?
Horwitz noted that “Slowing how fast content is shared is another effective tool [Facebook] knows would cut down on misinformation, as its research showed cutting the speed of the fastest shared posts to the?85 percentile?yields “double digit” result in terms of the content Facebook has already classified as misinformation.”
This advice is in line with epidemiological thinking.?By slowing the spread of a dangerous falsehood, society is flattening the curve of infections and their consequences.?The slower the spread, the lower the replication number, the more localised any outbreak, the faster it will die out as cognition and immunity start to kick in.
But how can the speed of transmission be reduced on Facebook???Horwitz suggests:
Ideas such as eliminating the reshare button (“just kill it”) or limiting how far reshares can travel. “That alone was a very effective tool that required zero staffing and no hard choices in terms of censorship.”
Evidently, not all countermeasures are too hard.
[1] https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/epidemiology-fake-news-other-beliefs-mike-smart/?trackingId=%2F3RCmoRttAYzfa8D33%2BXRA%3D%3D
[2] https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/how-would-epidemiologist-tackle-fake-news-mike-smart/?trackingId=i4z3paqIMe5Kc0yJObGx5Q%3D%3D
[3] https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2021/11/reporter-details-dark-inner-workings-of-facebook/?utm_source=SilverpopMailing&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily%20Gazette%2020211109%20(1)