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The social media context interferes with truth discernment.
Ziv Epstein1, Nathaniel Sirlin2, Antonio Arechar2,3
1MIT Media Lab, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Science Advances
|March 3, 2023
Summary
Social media sharing intentions impair truth discernment. Participants considering sharing news on social media were worse at identifying false headlines, suggesting increased vulnerability to misinformation.
Area of Science:
- Social Psychology
- Media Psychology
- Information Science
Background:
- Widespread concern exists regarding misinformation on social media platforms.
- The social media environment may increase susceptibility to false claims.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if considering social media sharing reduces truth discrimination.
- To determine if the social context of sharing influences belief in false news.
Main Methods:
- A large online experiment with 3,157 American participants.
- Participants judged the accuracy of headlines related to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and political news.
- Evaluated accuracy alone versus evaluating accuracy with sharing intentions.
Main Results:
- Participants were less accurate at distinguishing true from false headlines when they considered sharing.
- Indicating sharing intentions alongside accuracy evaluation impaired truth discernment compared to accuracy evaluation alone.
Conclusions:
- The act of considering sharing on social media can impair individuals' ability to discern truth from falsehood.
- Social media's inherent sharing features may heighten vulnerability to believing misinformation.
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