Short, simple comments from ordinary social media users can help others spot fake news online, new research suggests. Research shows that corrections made online by other users, perception of and engagement with inaccurate content can reduce accuracy. Experts found that the format and strength of corrections do not matter much. Social media users do not need to write long and detailed comments to flag fake content.

While the study revealed the overall effectiveness of social correction, it also found that false corrections also impact social media users: When users mark accurate news as false in comments, readers may perceive actual news as less accurate. User comments can also cause further confusion on social media platforms.

The team surveyed more than 6,600 people in the UK, Germany and Italy (1,944 in the UK, 2,467 in Italy and 2,210 in Germany). Participants were tasked with rating false and true news on a variety of topics, such as health, climate change and technology. The research used materials posted on X (now Twitter), Instagram and Facebook.

The researchers found no evidence that more complex corrective redirects, such as corrective comments with links to fact-checking websites, were consistently and statistically significantly more effective than weak corrective redirects, such as just a few words that flag a post as inaccurate.

The study published today (February 13) in the journal Communication Psychology, It was conducted by Florian Stockel, Chiara Ricci and Jason Reifler from the University of Exeter, Sabrina Steckley from the University of Zurich, and Besir Cheka and Ben Lyons from Davidson College. from the University of Utah.

Professor Stockel said: “Social corrections have reduced perceptions of accuracy and participation in fake news. We have found that people do not need to write lengthy corrective comments online when they want to flag a post as inaccurate. However, before flagging a post as inaccurate, people can go to a fact-checking website and see what they do. “They can be confident that the correction is not actually wrong.”

“The simplicity of creating effective corrections can be a double-edged sword. There are also users on social networks who mark true news as lies. While social corrections can be effective for fake news, they can also weaken faith in real news. The finding that users can be easily influenced by false corrections indicates what digital media literacy is.” It shows how important it is.”