Deterring the spread of misinformation on social network sites: A social cognitive theory-guided intervention

Abstract

As more individuals turn to social network sites (SNSs) for information, the spread of misinformation in these sites is becoming a greater concern. Not only can misinformation cause individual users anxiety and harm, but it can also prevent SNSs from realizing their full potential as trustworthy sources of information. This study proposed and tested an intervention-based strategy that was designed to discourage behavior that promotes the spread of misinformation. Guided by the social cognitive theory (SCT), the intervention sought to modify users' outcome expectations by presenting them with a message that highlighted the negative consequences of misinformation. To investigate the effectiveness of this intervention message, a classical experiment was conducted on-line with 131 college-student participants. In the study's experimental group, the ANOVA results showed that the intervention effectively reduced the total number of “Likes” and “Shares” for postings that provided misinformation. Future development and testing of this SCT-guided, outcome-expectations-based intervention is promising.