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the correct information should be framed as if the general public is
the audience.
Empowering Users
Fighting the spread of misinformation will, of course, require more
than just carefully crafted debunks on social media. We need to come
at this issue from every angle.68 We need, for instance, social media
platforms to adopt evidence-informed strategies that will both remove
the most harmful content and heighten user vigilance. Studies have
found, for example, that the use of warning tagsâsuch as those ârated
falseââon social media posts can be an effective strategy to inform the
public about potential problems with accuracy with specific content.69
And we need a more robust policy response against individuals who
are pushing unproven products and ideas on social media platforms
in a manner that infringes existing laws and regulations.70
Perhaps the most important strategy will be to empower peo-
ple with the tools necessary to be more critical consumers of infor-
mation. This should incorporate teaching both critical thinking skills
and media literacy,71 including inoculating (or âpre-bunkingâ) people
68. See e.g. Kate Starbird, âDisinformationâs Spread: Bots, Trolls and All of Usâ (2019)
571 Nature World View 449, DOI: <10.1038/d41586-019-02235-x>: âBut effective
disinformation campaigns involve diverse participants; they might even include
a majority of âunwitting agentsâ who are unaware of their role.â
69. Katherine Clayton et al, âReal Solutions for Fake News? Measuring the
Effectiveness of General Warnings and Fact-Check Tags in Reducing Belief in
False Stories on Social Mediaâ (2019) Political Behaviour at abstract, â ⊠indi-
cate that false headlines are perceived as less accurate when people receive a
general warning.â While warning tags seem to have a role to play, they need to
be deployed sensibly. Research has found, for example, that general warnings
telling readers to beware of misinformation can have an unintended spillover
of effect of decreasing âbelief in the accuracy of true headlinesâŠâ Pennycook
et al, supra note 43 highlights that using warning tags can lead to an inap-
propriate implication that posts without warnings are more accurate. See also
Melanie Freeze et al, âFake Claims of Fake News: Political Misinformation,
Warnings, and the Tainted Truth Effectâ (2020) Political Behaviour, DOI: 10.1007/
s11109-020-09597-3>.
70. For an example of regulatory action, see Health Canada, Health Products that
Make False or Misleading Claims to Prevent, Treat or Cure COVID-19 May Put YourÂ
Health at Risk, (Advisory RA-72659) (Ottawa: Health Canada, 27 March 2020);
Federal Trade Commission, Press Release, âFTC Sends 45 More Letters Warning
Marketers to Stop Making Unsupported Claims That Their Products and
Therapies Can Effectively Prevent or Treat COVID-19â (7 May 2020).
71. See e.g. Michelle A Amazeen & Erik P Bucy, âConferring Resistance to Digital
Disinformation: The Inoculating Influence of Procedural News Knowledgeâ
VULNERABLE
The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19
- Titel
- VULNERABLE
- Untertitel
- The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19
- Autoren
- Vanessa MacDonnell
- Jane Philpott
- Sophie Thériault
- Sridhar Venkatapuram
- Verlag
- Ottawa Press
- Datum
- 2020
- Sprache
- englisch
- Lizenz
- CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
- ISBN
- 9780776636429
- Abmessungen
- 15.2 x 22.8 cm
- Seiten
- 648
- Kategorien
- Coronavirus
- International