A Research Proposal for Combatting Misinformation Through Social Media Design

Journal: Proceedings of 2021 8th IEEE International Conference on Behavioural and Social Computing, BESC 2021

DOI: 10.1109/BESC53957.2021.9635365

Abstract:

Use of Social Network Sites (SNS) for information seeking has amplified the dissemination of misinformation. One of the promising strategies to mitigate the problem is social corrections, defined as users correcting other users' posts on SNS. However, such social corrections are rare. Two factors are identified to explain why people do not challenge misinformation. First, users may hold negative views about challenging other users. Second, features for correcting misinformation or questioning it are not apparent in the design of SNS. This research aims to analyze users' perceptions, whether these perceptions discourage them from engaging and then to explore, devise and test SNS features that empower users to challenge misinformation. The main contributions of the present study are in two aspects. First, it will be the first study to investigate reasons why people avoid challenging misinformation. Second, this research could be a useful aid for empowering users to express their concerns on cyberspace when they encounter misinformation without feeling constrained.

Source: Scopus