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The Phase Model of Misinformation Interventions

Hendrik Heuer

TL;DR

This paper provides the first systematic interdisciplinary investigation of technical and non-technical interventions against misinformation and introduces the Phase Model of Misinformation Interventions that helps practitioners make informed decisions about which interventions to focus on and how to best combine interventions.

Abstract

Misinformation is a challenging problem. This paper provides the first systematic interdisciplinary investigation of technical and non-technical interventions against misinformation. It combines interviews and a survey to understand which interventions are accepted across academic disciplines and approved by misinformation experts. Four interventions are supported by more than two in three misinformation experts: promoting media literacy, education in schools and universities, finding information about claims, and finding sources for claims. The most controversial intervention is deleting misinformation. We discuss the potentials and risks of all interventions. Education-based interventions are perceived as the most helpful by misinformation experts. Interventions focused on providing evidence are also widely perceived as helpful. We discuss them as scalable and always available interventions that empower users to independently identify misinformation. We also introduce the Phase Model of Misinformation Interventions that helps practitioners make informed decisions about which interventions to focus on and how to best combine interventions.

The Phase Model of Misinformation Interventions

TL;DR

This paper provides the first systematic interdisciplinary investigation of technical and non-technical interventions against misinformation and introduces the Phase Model of Misinformation Interventions that helps practitioners make informed decisions about which interventions to focus on and how to best combine interventions.

Abstract

Misinformation is a challenging problem. This paper provides the first systematic interdisciplinary investigation of technical and non-technical interventions against misinformation. It combines interviews and a survey to understand which interventions are accepted across academic disciplines and approved by misinformation experts. Four interventions are supported by more than two in three misinformation experts: promoting media literacy, education in schools and universities, finding information about claims, and finding sources for claims. The most controversial intervention is deleting misinformation. We discuss the potentials and risks of all interventions. Education-based interventions are perceived as the most helpful by misinformation experts. Interventions focused on providing evidence are also widely perceived as helpful. We discuss them as scalable and always available interventions that empower users to independently identify misinformation. We also introduce the Phase Model of Misinformation Interventions that helps practitioners make informed decisions about which interventions to focus on and how to best combine interventions.
Paper Structure (58 sections, 2 figures, 3 tables)

This paper contains 58 sections, 2 figures, 3 tables.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Background
  3. Interventions Against Mis- and Disinformation
  4. Technical Interventions
  5. Socio-Technical Interventions
  6. Methods
  7. Semi-Structured Interviews
  8. Online Survey With Misinformation Experts
  9. Results
  10. Interventions Against Misinformation (RQ1)
  11. Educating People
  12. Promoting Media Literacy
  13. Education in Schools and Universities
  14. Face-to-Face Conversations
  15. Crowdsourcing
  16. ...and 43 more sections

Figures (2)

  • Figure 1: We conducted an online survey with 34 misinformation experts to understand how the intervention proposals from the interviews are perceived. The figure shows their agreement and disagreement to the questions like "Promoting media literacy can help people deal with disinformation."
  • Figure 2: We distinguish three phases that interventions can target: before misinformation is created (Phase 1), before misinformation is identified (Phase 2), and after misinformation is identified (Phase 3). We situate the different interventions proposed by our interviewees and color-code the categories: Educating People (green), Labeling Misinformation (purple), Providing Evidence (orange), and Deleting Misinformation (red). We indicate how many misinformation experts agreed or disagreed that this intervention is helpful.