The challenge
Fact-checks cannot keep up with the volume of misleading content on large platforms.
The case
Researchers from the Universities of Cambridge and Bristol, working with Google's Jigsaw unit, made five short animated videos that each explain one manipulation technique: emotionally manipulative language, incoherence, false dichotomies, scapegoating and ad hominem attacks. Six preregistered randomized studies with 6,464 people found the videos improved people's ability to spot these techniques and to judge the trustworthiness of content. In a 2022 field test, two videos ran as YouTube ads; a random subset of viewers and a control group then answered a headline question within 24 hours (n = 22,632). Viewers were about 5% better at recognising the technique. The results were published in Science Advances in August 2022.
Why it worked
Teaching the technique rather than rebutting each false claim scales cheaply through ad slots; the real-world effect was small per person and fell just short of the authors' preset target, so reach and repeat exposure matter.
Sources
- Roozenbeek, J., van der Linden, S., Goldberg, B., Rathje, S. & Lewandowsky, S. (2022). Psychological inoculation improves resilience against misinformation on social media. Science Advances, 8(34).
- University of Cambridge (2022). Social media experiment reveals potential to 'inoculate' millions of users against misinformation.
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