What’s different today is the speed, scope and scale of misinformation, enabled by technology.

Online media has given voice to previously marginalised groups, including peddlers of untruth, and has supercharged the tools of deception at their disposal.

These new developments have come on the heels of rising inequality, falling civic engagement and fraying social cohesion – trends that render us more susceptible to demagoguery.

the continued influence effect’

If the myth fits the ‘logic’ of events, its retraction leaves a hole, and the cogs of the story no longer click into place.

Another reason why misinformation resists correction is repetition.

Because memory declines with age, older people might be particularly vulnerable to misinformation that’s repeated when retracted.

The Debunking Handbook 2020

To successfully debunk a myth

provide an alternative causal explanation to

evoke suspicion about the source of the misinformation

In cases where identity-protective motivations play a key role, people tend to seek and process information in biased ways that conform to their prior beliefs.

conformity to group beliefs

it’s sensible to focus on optimising one’s social ties instead. Belonging to a community is, after all, a vital source of self-worth

In the populist story, lying takes on the trappings of anti-establishmentarianism, undermining truth as a social norm.

it persists because some of us actively partake in it, and some merely stand by and allow it to continue.

focus more on shifting those social norms that make it OK to create, spread, share and tolerate misinformation.