The global spread of misinformation on spiders

Stefano Mammola1, Jagoba Malumbres-Olarte2, Valeria Arabesky3

  • 1Laboratory for Integrative Biodiversity Research (LIBRe), Finnish Museum of Natural History (LUOMUS), University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland; Molecular Ecology Group (MEG), Water Research Institute, National Research Council of Italy (CNR-IRSA), Largo Tonolli 50, 28922 Verbania Pallanza, Italy.

Current Biology : CB
|August 23, 2022
PubMed
Summary

Misinformation about spiders is common in online news, with 47% of articles containing errors and 43% being sensationalist. Sensationalism significantly drives the global spread of this spider misinformation.