Correcting vaccine misinformation on social media: the inadvertent effects of repeating misinformation within such corrections on COVID-19 vaccine misperceptions

Abstract

Focusing on vaccine-related misinformation, this online experiment study (N = 502) examined how short-term repeated exposure of the corrective information may unexpectedly impact misinformation credibility through misinformation familiarity. The study found that repeated exposure of myths within corrective information increased the perceived familiarity about the misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines. This effect, which ultimately increased misinformation credibility, was pronounced even among individuals with low and moderate levels of prior beliefs in the misinformation. Our findings suggest practical implications for minimizing the unexpected backfire effect of corrections against vaccine misinformation on social media. Debunking processes should avoid the dominant framing of original false claims within the correction and unnecessary repetitions of the correction.