Misinformation sharing and how to combat it

We examine the sharing of misinformation on social media. In Study 1, we collected data on 10,201 misinformation narratives and 978 accurate information narratives published in more than a quarter million social media posts. We show that misinformation tends to be more readable and garners higher engagement than accurate information. In Study 2, we conducted an experiment and found that the perceived cognitive ease (i.e., the perceived ease of processing information) is an underlying mechanism that drives the relationship between readability and sharing. In another experiment in Study 3, we show that cognitive reflection (i.e., people’s tendency to engage in effortful thinking) can also influence the effect of perceived cognitive ease and sharing. In Study 4, we show that an intervention that prompts people to think more before making a sharing decision reduces misinformation sharing. Our research advances our understanding of how misinformation spreads and how to combat it.