Page - 191 - in VULNERABLE - The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19

191Does Debunking Work? Correcting COVID-19 Misinformation on Social Media example, found that even a single exposure to misinformation could increase subsequent perceptions of accuracy.37 So, does this mean that debunking misinformation and conspir- acy theories on social media—which often, of necessity, will include a restatement of the problematic belief—has the potential to do more harm than good? While the speculation about the problem of spread- ing is rooted in evidence about the possible impact of exposure to misinformation, there does not appear to be much direct empirical evidence that debunking actually has this problematic impact. Indeed, a recent study (still in preprint at time of this writing) explored this exact concern by analyzing whether a debunking of a new piece of misinformation—a not widely known and novel myth or conspiracy theory—led to an increase in beliefs about the claim. They found that corrections that “repeated novel misinformation claims did not lead to stronger misconceptions compared to a control group never exposed to the false claims or corrections.”38 As a result of this finding—which fits with other works on this point39—the authors conclude, “it is safe to repeat misinformation when correcting it, even when the audience might be unfamiliar with the misinformation.”40 The timing of a correction may also be relevant here. Claire Wardle, executive director of an institute dedicated to fighting mis- information, suggests that if you debunk a bit of misinformation too early, you may give it unintended oxygen and allow it to spread fur- ther.41 But once the public awareness of a particular myth, conspiracy celebrities-gwyneth-paltrow-made-2010s-decade-health-wellness-misinfor- mation-ncna1107501>. See also Mathew Ingram, “Amplifying the Coronavirus Protests”, Columbia Journalism Review (22 April 2020), online: <https://www.cjr. org/the_media_today/amplifying-coronavirus-protests.php>, where it is noted that less-than-ideal reporting of lockdown protests may have given them more legitimacy than the objective numbers might have suggested was appropriate. 37. Gordon Pennycook, Tyrone D Cannon & David G Rand, “Prior Exposure Increases Perceived Accuracy of Fake News” (2018) 147:12 J Experimental Psychology: General 1865, DOI: <10.1037/xge0000465>. 38. Ullrich KH Ecker, Stephan Lewandowsky & Matthew Chadwick, “Can Corrections Spread Misinformation to New Audiences? Testing for the Elusive Familiarity Backfire Effect” (2020) [working paper], DOI: <10.31219/osf.io/et4p3>. 39. Ullrich KH Ecker et al, “The Effectiveness of Short-Format Refutational Fact- Checks” (2020) 111:1 British J Psychology 36 at 36: “[W]e found no evidence for a familiarity-driven backfire effect.” 40. Ibid. 41. Claire Wardle, “What Role Should Newsrooms Play in Debunking COVID-19 Misinformation?”, Nieman Reports (8 April 2020), online: <https://niemanreports. org/articles/what-role-should-newsrooms-play-in-debunking-covid-19-mis-