Table of Contents
Lecture 10: Correcting misinformation, striving for the (im)possible .................................. 1
Lecture 11: Social Media and online hate ........................................................................14
Lecture 12: Social media moderation – the work in keeping communities civil...................33
Lecture 13 – social contagion on social media: how behaviours spread across social
networks ......................................................................................................................48
Lecture 14: Media literacy and digital citizenship ............................................................62
Lecture 15: Democratic backlash of the digital revolution ................................................74
Lecture 16: Social Media and Political Campaigns ...........................................................98
Lecture 17: Extremism and Conspiracy belief ............................................................... 123
Lecture 18: Extremism, Populism and (Mis)information ................................................. 148
Lecture 10: Correcting misinformation, striving for the (im)possible
,Definitions of the terms we talk about
- Misinformation: false information that is disseminated, regardless of intent to
mislead
- Disinformation: Misinformation that is deliberately disseminated to mislead
- Fake news: false information, often sensational, mimicking news media content
- Continued influence effect: continued reliance on inaccurate information in
people’s memory and reasoning after a credible correction has been presented
- Illusory truth effect: repeated information is more likely to be judged true than
novel information because it has become more familiar.
- Governments provide journalists with lies, flood them with useless information, will
help in disrupting people’s trust in the system on its own
- People are repeating this, and they give these rumors to other people: people stop
helping Ukraine or helping them because they think that Zelensky is in fact a dictator
Also in other contexts:
,How is misinformation spread?
- Unintentionally
o Media
▪ Pressures from competition and 24/7 news cycle (less opportunity for
fact-checking), no time to check sources?
▪ “False balance” coverage even in the absence of balanced evidence
o Social media:
▪ Fact-checking difficulties
▪ Echo chambers and filter bubbles
- On purpose
o Repeating disinformation is persuasive
o Disinformation campaigns designed to confuse, overwhelm, fatigue,
disengage, polarize, divide, sow uncertainty, challenge the notion that truth is
knowable
o “Cognitive warfare” Repeating lies has an effect
Consensus Gap
, - In real life, this is completely different: there is clearly a global warming
How has Russia influenced US elections?
- Why? Causing the confusion helps to destabilize countries
Misinformation – why believe it?
- People like information that is in line with their previous ideas (and dislike
“counterintuitive” information)
- People want to understand causalities, because if you understand what causes
“events”, you can better prevent it from re-occurring. In particular in case of
o Unusual events
o Negative events
- The absence of good explanations opens door for misinformation
- Also in the Netherlands
➔ If there is a problem in society and it can be pinpointed to a cause, it is nice as it can
be prevented from occurring *for positive and negative events
Lecture 10: Correcting misinformation, striving for the (im)possible .................................. 1
Lecture 11: Social Media and online hate ........................................................................14
Lecture 12: Social media moderation – the work in keeping communities civil...................33
Lecture 13 – social contagion on social media: how behaviours spread across social
networks ......................................................................................................................48
Lecture 14: Media literacy and digital citizenship ............................................................62
Lecture 15: Democratic backlash of the digital revolution ................................................74
Lecture 16: Social Media and Political Campaigns ...........................................................98
Lecture 17: Extremism and Conspiracy belief ............................................................... 123
Lecture 18: Extremism, Populism and (Mis)information ................................................. 148
Lecture 10: Correcting misinformation, striving for the (im)possible
,Definitions of the terms we talk about
- Misinformation: false information that is disseminated, regardless of intent to
mislead
- Disinformation: Misinformation that is deliberately disseminated to mislead
- Fake news: false information, often sensational, mimicking news media content
- Continued influence effect: continued reliance on inaccurate information in
people’s memory and reasoning after a credible correction has been presented
- Illusory truth effect: repeated information is more likely to be judged true than
novel information because it has become more familiar.
- Governments provide journalists with lies, flood them with useless information, will
help in disrupting people’s trust in the system on its own
- People are repeating this, and they give these rumors to other people: people stop
helping Ukraine or helping them because they think that Zelensky is in fact a dictator
Also in other contexts:
,How is misinformation spread?
- Unintentionally
o Media
▪ Pressures from competition and 24/7 news cycle (less opportunity for
fact-checking), no time to check sources?
▪ “False balance” coverage even in the absence of balanced evidence
o Social media:
▪ Fact-checking difficulties
▪ Echo chambers and filter bubbles
- On purpose
o Repeating disinformation is persuasive
o Disinformation campaigns designed to confuse, overwhelm, fatigue,
disengage, polarize, divide, sow uncertainty, challenge the notion that truth is
knowable
o “Cognitive warfare” Repeating lies has an effect
Consensus Gap
, - In real life, this is completely different: there is clearly a global warming
How has Russia influenced US elections?
- Why? Causing the confusion helps to destabilize countries
Misinformation – why believe it?
- People like information that is in line with their previous ideas (and dislike
“counterintuitive” information)
- People want to understand causalities, because if you understand what causes
“events”, you can better prevent it from re-occurring. In particular in case of
o Unusual events
o Negative events
- The absence of good explanations opens door for misinformation
- Also in the Netherlands
➔ If there is a problem in society and it can be pinpointed to a cause, it is nice as it can
be prevented from occurring *for positive and negative events
