Stopping Incorrect Information Cascades In the Real World
The spread of misinformation is something that has been occurring for hundreds of years. An example of this is in 1582 when the Spanish armada attempted to overthrow Queen Elizabeth I in England. Initially, the news that the Spanish armada defeated the English fleet spread all over Europe. After a few days, the opposite news that the English fleet defeated the Spanish armada also spread. This spread of misinformation continued with the rise of the early news outlets. These early news sources had to decide between accuracy and speed, and many of these journalists choose to spread false and unverified news. This was because being both accurate and fast was quite expensive. Eventually, in the 19th century, news sources slowly shifted to being more accurate and “objective” by introducing a source of friction. In this context, the article defines friction as “a limit or constraint placed on behavior or content to reduce its use or spread.” These news sources introduced friction by checking stories with second and third-handed sources before publishing. The rise of radio and television helped amplify the spread of information, but sources of friction were still introduced to ensure that truthful news was being spread. This means there was a shift towards more accurate news.
The introduction of social media made the spread of information essentially frictionless. Users of social media sites, such as Facebook, could spread misinformation very easily since the number of people using these social media websites is so large (millions of users). This spread of misinformation is often targeting political issues, like elections. The article argues that social media is geared towards higher velocity content, which is usually unverifiable and emotional, instead of slower content, which is usually more reliable. This means the combination of higher amplification and velocity that social media is focused on leads to the spread of more misinformation. The article discusses how social media sites and society can add “circuit breakers” to help slow down the spread of information, allowing for posts to be verified more often before being spread to everyone.
Source: https://www.wired.com/story/how-to-stop-misinformation-before-it-gets-shared/