Misleading air quality reports lower the public’s perception of pollution and increase travel behavior

Millions of lives are lost due to air pollution, underscoring the urgent need to understand the factors that influence air quality. Here, we employ a multidisciplinary approach, integrating media data analysis, behavioral experiments, and agent-based modeling to explore the impact of inaccurate air quality reports on travel behavior and actual air quality. Media analysis reveals a negative correlation between the accuracy of air pollution reports and the air quality index. Behavioral experiments demonstrate that media reports inaccurately showing good air quality reduce individuals’ perceived pollution levels, which in turn leads to increased travel behavior. Furthermore, agent-based modeling simulations show that individual changes in travel behavior can collectively lead to increased air pollutant emissions and deteriorated overall air quality. This study highlights the critical role of accurate media reporting for air pollution management. Media reports that inaccurately show good air quality reduce individuals’ perception of pollution, leading to more travel that affects air quality, according to an analysis that uses data on media reports, behavior experiments, and agent-based modeling.