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Authors:
Katelyn Jetelina, PhD, MPH and Isaac Saul, Founder - Tangle Newsletter
Originally published by
YLE on October 30, 2024
It’s an incredibly
difficult time to consume information. Whether it’s vaccines or
elections, we have entered an era where it’s impossible to avoid
falsehoods online.
Social media posts from AI or well-coordinated, deliberate foreign
(or domestic) disinformation campaigns look almost identical to
legitimate concerns and questions, making it very difficult to discern
the two. This has created chaos online, especially during highly
consequential times—whether it’s a hurricane, elections, or a
pandemic.
So what
should we do?
Social scientists
actually don’t know what works best against online falsehoods, yet.
There are many theories, but we are flying the plane as we build it.
One evidence-based
strategy is “pre-bunking.”
This differs from
combating each claim (“debunking”) or telling people what they need to
believe. Pre-bunking prepares people to identify unwanted persuasion
attempts regardless of the claim or topic. The idea is to build
resilience by explaining the tactics and fallacies used so that people
are equipped regardless of the topic.
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A
hot off-the-press study showed that pre-bunking election
fraud messages for the 2024 U.S. general election decreased
belief in election rumors for Democrats and Republicans alike. |
More and more
resources are coming out to teach people how to recognize tactics and
fallacies so they feel well-equipped to navigate the information
landscape. Examples are:
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Games, like
GoViral, teach people how information is manipulated. |
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Creative videos, like those by
Truth Labs for Education, educate viewers on different
tactics, like scapegoating. |
Of course,
learning about a concept can be different than actually doing
it in the wild.
One of my favorite
journalists, Isaac Saul, writes the newsletter
Tangle, which summarizes arguments from across the political
spectrum and debunk a lot of rumors online. Saul recently
asked his readers to anticipate the noise in the coming weeks. I
was struck by how his lessons from the political space match those I
have learned from the public health space.
Here are 9 tips that
help us sift through the noise. They may be useful for you, too.
| 1. |
Basic sniff test.
If vaccines are causing hundreds of thousands of deaths,
wouldn’t we have overwhelmed morgues? If election workers were
unloading trash cans full of ballots they forged at an election
center, would they dump them out in front of a security camera?
More often than not, these allegations don’t pass a basic sniff
test. Pause and think before you share. |
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| 2. |
Follow the
money.
Most people
don’t just spread lies for fun. They are doing it for one of two
reasons: 1) political motivation, or 2) making a profit. If
someone has created a movie that “proves” election fraud
happened, but you have to pay $19 to view it, red flags should
be going up everywhere. If a podcast talks about the benefits of
supplements but then sells those same supplements thereafter,
you should consider whether those two things are linked. |
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| 3. |
Ask follow-up
questions.
If someone
makes a bold claim online, ask them to explain it. They’ll often
respond with
statements like “Democrats are
stealing the 2024 election. We all know it.” Or
“hydroxychloroquine obviously stops Covid-19 infections.” Ask
them how they know it. Once you do, you’ll have
evidence to analyze. |
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| 4. |
Find
a second source. There are a lot of
legitimate-looking news websites that are actually just
organizations masking as something else. In politics, they exist
on the
left and
right. In health, they are usually trying to sell something.
These websites are typically shared on social media to go viral
and get clicks. If you can only find a claim made by one
source, there is a good chance something is fishy. See if it’s
being confirmed in a more reputable news outlet.
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| 5. |
Do
two minutes of targeted research. If we see a
claim, plug it into a search engine like Google or DuckDuckGo.
This is a simple way to stress-test claims: look for the
counter-evidence and see if someone else has already provided a
better explanation. |
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| 6. |
Read the comments and replies.
If a claim is being shared,
there is often a space for people to reply or comment. The
replies and comments usually contain dissenting voices. (There’s
always some crazy replies, too.) We always read the comments and
replies for more information and gather other insights to help
evaluate the claim. A
recent study also showed that 97.5% of community notes on X
were accurate for Covid-19 vaccines. We’ve found they can
provide refreshing nuance in topics beyond
vaccines, too;
however, the community notes are often too late—the rumor has
already spread. |
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| 7. |
Consult the
experts.
We know that’s corny to say, but it’s still
important. Election experts are good sources. Most Americans
have never worked as secretaries of state, poll workers, county
recorders, auditors, investigators, or in other roles that give
them unique insights into how elections are run. When you don’t
have that experience, you can be convinced that regular,
innocuous election activity is actually suspicious or dangerous.
This is more challenging in the public health space, as some of
the most prominent
disinformation dozen have MDs behind their name. It’s okay
to consult an expert’s opinion and, ideally, many opinions. |
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| 8. |
If a claim instantly sparks rage, take a step
back.
Strong emotions can temporarily blind us from thinking
critically, causing us to accept something not because it makes
sense but because it makes us mad. Social media platforms are
optimized for engagement, meaning that sensational or
emotionally charged content gets the most attention. |
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| 9. |
Maintain
skepticism.
More
than anything else, rules 1–8 only work if you maintain a
modicum of skepticism while navigating the information ecosystem
we are operating in. That’s especially
important if the
information you are encountering reaffirms your worldview. More
than anything else, do your best not to be gullible; don’t
believe in dramatic or jaw-dropping claims without trying to
follow these steps. |
Bottom
line
We are in a new
information landscape, one that has immense benefits but also serious
consequences. To adapt to the dense jungle of our information
ecosystem, we must become responsible information consumers in ways
we’ve never had to before. It’s hard but desperately needed for our
health and our democracy.
Stay steady out there.
■
Isaac Saul is a
politics reporter who grew up in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, one of
the most
politically divided counties in America. He founded Tangle, an
independent, nonpartisan, subscriber-supported newsletter read by over
150,000 people, including conservatives, liberals, independents, and
those who don’t identify with any political tribe. If you want to
check out how they cover politics, I highly recommend his newsletter
Tangle.
To subscribe to Your
Local Epidemiologist on Substack please click here:
https://yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com/ |
