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From Dark to Light: The Many Shades of Sharing Misinformation Online

Author

Listed:
  • Miriam J. Metzger

    (Department of Communication, University of California, USA)

  • Andrew J. Flanagin

    (Department of Communication, University of California, USA)

  • Paul Mena

    (Writing Program, University of California, USA)

  • Shan Jiang

    (Khoury College of Computer Sciences, Northeastern University, USA)

  • Christo Wilson

    (Khoury College of Computer Sciences, Northeastern University, USA)

Abstract

Research typically presumes that people believe misinformation and propagate it through their social networks. Yet, a wide range of motivations for sharing misinformation might impact its spread, as well as people’s belief of it. By examining research on motivations for sharing news information generally, and misinformation specifically, we derive a range of motivations that broaden current understandings of the sharing of misinformation to include factors that may to some extent mitigate the presumed dangers of misinformation for society. To illustrate the utility of our viewpoint we report data from a preliminary study of people’s dis/belief reactions to misinformation shared on social media using natural language processing. Analyses of over 2,5 million comments demonstrate that misinformation on social media is often disbelieved. These insights are leveraged to propose directions for future research that incorporate a more inclusive understanding of the various motivations and strategies for sharing misinformation socially in large-scale online networks.

Suggested Citation

  • Miriam J. Metzger & Andrew J. Flanagin & Paul Mena & Shan Jiang & Christo Wilson, 2021. "From Dark to Light: The Many Shades of Sharing Misinformation Online," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 9(1), pages 134-143.
    • Handle: RePEc:cog:meanco:v9:y:2021:i:1:p:134-143
    DOI: 10.17645/mac.v9i1.3409
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hunt Allcott & Matthew Gentzkow, 2017. "Social Media and Fake News in the 2016 Election," NBER Working Papers 23089, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Talwar, Shalini & Dhir, Amandeep & Kaur, Puneet & Zafar, Nida & Alrasheedy, Melfi, 2019. "Why do people share fake news? Associations between the dark side of social media use and fake news sharing behavior," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 72-82.
    3. Hunt Allcott & Matthew Gentzkow, 2017. "Social Media and Fake News in the 2016 Election," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 31(2), pages 211-236, Spring.
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