Mis- and disinformation studies are too big to fail: Six suggestions for the field’s future

Abstract

Who are mis-/disinformation studies for? What agenda does the field serve? How can it be improved? While the increase in the attention towards the topic in the last years is healthy, it has also led to an explosion of papers in all directions, and the field has been subject to various criticisms and attacks. In this commentary, we discuss the status and wider impact of the field, raise current challenges, and propose ways ahead for the development of a more critical, interdisciplinary, and rigorous scholarly discipline of mis- and disinformation studies.

Effects of a Digital Media Literacy Intervention to Build Misinformation Resilience in Diverse Communities: Social and Motivational Considerations in Intervention Efficacy

“…Ideally, digital media literacy interventions should help individuals identify misinformation by giving them the tools to investigate claims wherever on the Internet they may encounter them. In existing interventions, however, skills tend to be taught in the context of news sources that may not be representative of the diverse ways people encounter news (Camargo & Simon, 2022). For example, Wineburg et al (2022) taught people to apply lateral reading to claims encountered on mainstream digital news outlets (i.e., LA Times) and widely-used social media platforms (i.e., Facebook, Twitter).…”

“…Indeed, scholars and practitioners have highlighted the need for efforts combating the misinformation crisis to increase their scope (Nguyen et al, 2022). In a recent commentary, Camargo & Simon (2022) emphasize that research should "consider in more detail the role of race, gender, and class" as well as the ways in which (mis)information is experienced within diverse communities' sociocultural contexts. To date, most work has developed and administered interventions for predominantly WEIRD populations (e.g., Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic) -a problem across the behavioral sciences (Rad et al, 2018).…”

“…Efforts to combat misinformation are often discussed at the individual level, such as encouraging individuals to apply digital media literacy skills to verify online information (e.g., McGrew et al, 2018) or to pause and consider the accuracy of a claim before sharing it (e.g., . However, as Camargo & Simon (2022) note, individuals' exposure and responses to misinformation are shaped by the nuances of their social, political, and cultural contexts. For instance, qualitative interviews with AAPI individuals found that they are targeted by purveyors who seek to exploit cultural beliefs (e.g., in traditional Eastern medicine) (Nguyen et al, 2022;Lee, Moore, & Hancock, 2023).…”

“…Although misinformation affects people of all backgrounds, little research has focused on supporting communities of color in the fight against it (Camargo & Simon, 2022). This is concerning as recent investigations reveal that Black (Dodson et al, 2021), Latino (Cortina & Rottinghouse, 2022), Asian American / Pacific Islander (AAPI) (Nguyen et al, 2022), and Native American communities (Getahun, 2021) are uniquely targeted by misinformation.…”

“…While many interventions have successfully improved people's ability to detect false claims by teaching digital media literacy skills to interrogate information encountered online (McGrew, 2020), few have focused on serving individuals from ethnically diverse communities (Camargo & Simon, 2022). As such, it is important to test whether such approaches are effective in improving misinformation detection and response among more diverse participants -particularly given that BIPOC communities experience misinformation in unique ways (Lee, Moore, & Hancock, 2023).…”