School of Social Sciences, University of Westminster, London, United Kingdom.
PLoS One. 2023 Mar 22;18(3):e0281777. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0281777. eCollection 2023.
The spread of false and misleading information on social media is largely dependent on human action. Understanding the factors that lead social media users to amplify (or indeed intervene in) the spread of this content is an ongoing challenge. Prior research suggests that users are not only more likely to interact with misinformation that supports their ideology or their political beliefs, they may also feel it is more acceptable to spread. However, less is known about the influence of newer, issue-specific beliefs. Two online studies explored the relationship between the degree of belief-consistency of disinformation on users' moral judgements and intentions to spread disinformation further. Four disinformation narratives were presented: disinformation that supported or undermined the UK Government's handling of COVID-19, and disinformation that minimised or maximised the perceived risk of COVID-19. A novel scale for measuring intentions to contribute to the spread of social media content was also used in study 2. Participants reported greater likelihood of spreading false material that was consistent with their beliefs. More lenient moral judgements related to the degree of belief-consistency with disinformation, even when participants were aware the material was false or misleading. These moral judgements partially mediated the relationship between belief-consistency of content and intentions to spread it further on social media. While people are concerned about the spread of disinformation generally, they may evaluate belief-consistent disinformation differently from others in a way that permits them to spread it further. As social media platforms prioritise the ordering of feeds based on personal relevance, there is a risk that users could be being presented with disinformation that they are more tolerant of.
社交媒体上虚假和误导性信息的传播在很大程度上取决于人为因素。了解导致社交媒体用户放大（或实际上干预）这些内容传播的因素是一个持续的挑战。先前的研究表明，用户不仅更有可能与支持他们意识形态或政治信仰的错误信息互动，而且他们可能觉得传播这些信息更可以接受。然而，对于更新的、特定于问题的信仰的影响知之甚少。两项在线研究探讨了虚假信息与用户对虚假信息的道德判断和进一步传播虚假信息的意图之间的一致性程度之间的关系。提出了四个虚假叙事：支持或破坏英国政府对 COVID-19 处理的虚假信息，以及最小化或最大化 COVID-19 感知风险的虚假信息。研究 2 还使用了一种新的衡量意图传播社交媒体内容的量表。参与者报告说，更有可能传播与他们的信仰一致的虚假材料。与虚假信息的信仰一致性相关的道德判断更为宽松，即使参与者意识到材料是虚假或误导性的。这些道德判断部分中介了内容信仰一致性与在社交媒体上进一步传播它的意图之间的关系。虽然人们普遍担心虚假信息的传播，但他们可能会以一种允许他们进一步传播它的方式，对与信仰一致的虚假信息进行不同的评估。由于社交媒体平台根据个人相关性优先安排提要的顺序，用户可能会面临他们更容易容忍的虚假信息。
