How the European Commission can use behavioural insights to combat misinformation
→ To fight misinformation, policymakers can use debunking (exposing misinformation and explaining why it is false) and prebunking (training people to recognise misinformation and defend themselves against it).
→ In an experiment with more than 5 000 people from four EU countries, debunking and prebunking effectively combated misinformation on climate change and COVID-19.
→ Debunks and prebunks were effective when their messenger was the European Commission.
→ The effectiveness of prebunks from the European Commission did not depend on people’s trust in the EU.
→ People’s levels of trust in the EU partially affected the effectiveness of debunks from the European Commission in reducing people’s beliefs in and the credibility ratings of false claims.
BRUNS Hendrik;
DESSART François J.;
KRAWCZYK Michal Wiktor;
SMILLIE Laura;
2023-08-22
European Commission
JRC133598
Additional supporting files
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