As insights into the underbelly of a General Election go, the BBC’s UK Undercover Voters investigation was illuminating. Led by Disinformation and Social Media Correspondent Marianna Spring, this was a social experiment with a twist.
Using data from the National Centre for Social Research, Marianna and her team created fictional social media profiles for 24 undercover voters across the UK, feeding the algorithm to uncover how the content each ‘character’ received differed according to voter type. Cue accidental election influencers, doctored artificial intelligence clips, false comments and bot accusations. We’ve seen globally how elections can be breeding grounds for misinformation and disinformation. Now we’ve witnessed it play out on home turf.
The proliferation of false or inaccurate information is one of the biggest threats of our time. Whether it’s misinformation, or the more sinister disinformation (false or inaccurate information created and spread deliberately), we’re seeing ramifications across all swathes of life, from public health to climate change. As technology continues to advance and our digital habits evolve accordingly, it’s our duty as communicators, especially in health, to champion public discourse grounded in evidence.
So what strategies do we have in our toolbox?
1. Fact-based approaches to expose a claim as false, once that claim has already been communicated
We’re all familiar with ‘debunking’. Reactive by nature, here we’re talking specific evidence-based campaigns or general educational interventions. For example, billboards advertising sources of accurate NHS information to counter COVID-19 vaccine misinformation during the pandemic.
History tells us it’s not always a quick fix. Ramifications from the Wakefield report can still be felt today, with measles cases in the UK on the rise and attributed to low MMR vaccine uptake. And that’s after decades of effort and numerous studies discrediting the initial report’s findings. In today’s digital age, a further challenge is the ease and pace with which misinformation spreads.
In a sector like ours, there is no greater drive to build trust via transparent, evidence-based communications. False information in health can literally be life or death – we’re only too aware of the consequences of it going unchecked. But, as an industry, is there more we could be doing proactively?
2. Psychological inoculation, if false or inaccurate information is anticipated but not disseminated
Under newer scrutiny, ‘prebunking’ is increasingly proving to be an effective, proactive strategy, whereby exposure to the workings of disinformation can help us to become more discerning about the content we’re consuming. In an interesting reframing of the medical term ‘inoculation’, in this context it’s attitudes versus diseases
There’s a growing body of evidence to suggest the positive impact of developing these skills, meaning forewarned is forearmed when it comes to future disinformation exposure. For example, a 2021 study found that players of the online game Bad News were more likely to spot disinformation compared with study participants assigned to play shape-rotation game Tetris. As a fake news intervention, Bad News encourages players to emulate bad online behaviours, ultimately making them wiser to disinformation tricks like trolling, impersonation and polarisation.
We only need to remember the conspiracy theories of the pandemic to predict pockets of vaccine hesitancy in the event of new or re-emerging viral threats. If we take a prebunking approach, what other health arenas are at risk of misinformation and what creative solutions would equip our audiences with the right tools to be able to better filter fact from fiction?
This is what made the BBC’s undercover approach to content on social media in the lead up to the election so fascinating. It enlightened us on what information or claims other people see, that we don’t – another way of educating and empowering us, helping us to be more discerning about what we believe to be true.
Food for thought in how we apply strategies, both reactive and proactive, to tackle misinformation and disinformation in our health communications world.
