Prompts on posts with social cues—such as messages indicating how many users have flagged a post—and clear platform review policies may encourage intervention and reduce sharing of cancer treatment misinformation on social media, according to Lazard et al, who reported findings from their online experiment in PLOS One.
“Cancer treatment misinformation is shared widely on social media, paradoxically by many who are trying to be helpful,” the investigators commented. “Some sharing motivations could be interpreted as misguided altruism, which could be redirected.”
Study Details
The investigators conducted a between-persons online experiment with a sample of 1,051 U.S. adults recruited via Prolific—an online survey research platform with a panel of over 150,000 active users. Participants were randomly assigned to view cancer treatment misinformation social media posts with (n = 550) or without (n = 501) social cue prompts and a flagging policy. They reported their willingness to intervene (eg, flag) or share, reactions to the messages, and motivations for intervening or sharing.
Key Findings
Participants who were exposed to social cue prompts and platform action policies were found to be significantly more likely to intervene compared with those who did not see the prompts (P < .001). Exposure to prompts and policies also resulted in significantly lower levels of sharing and engagement behaviors (eg, liking posts; P < .001).
Compared with no prompts, social cue prompts appeared to increase participants’ motivation to intervene in response to misinformation, primarily because of concerns about its potential inaccuracy and the harm it could cause to people with cancer (both P < .001). Social cue prompts also seemed to reduce motivation to share; fewer participants reported sharing because the post was interesting or might provide hope (P < .001).
In conclusion, the investigators stated, “We need to encourage individuals to prosocially intervene with cancer treatment misinformation to reduce harm.” They continued, “We found that prompts on posts with social cues (ie, messages with how many people have already flagged a post as false and potentially harmful) and clear platform review policies (ie, post removed after flagged by certain number of people) encourage intervening and reduce sharing of cancer treatment misinformation on social media.”
Allison J. Lazard, PhD, of the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill, is the corresponding author of the article in PLOS One.
Disclosure: The study was funded by a UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center Developmental Award, which is supported in part by a Cancer Center Core Support Grant. The study authors reported no conflicts of interest.
