{"id":77629,"date":"2022-09-24T11:42:04","date_gmt":"2022-09-24T11:42:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/80000hours.org\/?post_type=problem_profile&#038;p=77629"},"modified":"2024-11-08T12:57:32","modified_gmt":"2024-11-08T12:57:32","slug":"preventing-the-spread-of-false-ideas-on-social-media","status":"publish","type":"problem_profile","link":"https:\/\/80000hours.org\/problem-profiles\/preventing-the-spread-of-false-ideas-on-social-media\/","title":{"rendered":"Preventing the spread of false ideas on social&nbsp;media"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"toc_container\" class=\"toc_white no_bullets\"><p class=\"toc_title\">Table of Contents<\/p><ul class=\"toc_list\"><li><a href=\"#why-might-the-spread-of-false-ideas-on-social-media-be-a-pressing-problem\"><span class=\"toc_number toc_depth_1\">1<\/span> Why might the spread of false ideas on social media be a pressing problem?<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#what-are-the-major-arguments-against-this-problem-being-pressing\"><span class=\"toc_number toc_depth_1\">2<\/span> What are the major arguments against this problem being pressing?<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#learn-more\"><span class=\"toc_number toc_depth_1\">3<\/span> Learn more<\/a><ul><li><a href=\"#top-recommendations\"><span class=\"toc_number toc_depth_2\">3.1<\/span> Top recommendations<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#further-recommendations\"><span class=\"toc_number toc_depth_2\">3.2<\/span> Further recommendations<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n<h2><span id=\"why-might-the-spread-of-false-ideas-on-social-media-be-a-pressing-problem\" class=\"toc-anchor\"><\/span>Why might the spread of false ideas on social media be a pressing problem?<\/h2>\n<p>It seems plausible that political discourse is significantly affected by the way many people now receive their information: through algorithms owned and run by social media companies.<\/p>\n<p>This could have a number of harmful effects, including:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>People&#8217;s views could become increasingly far from reality. If voters form highly inaccurate and difficult-to-change views about the world, this could hurt policy over a long period of time.<\/li>\n<li>Governments could make information readily available &#8212; for example, about an ongoing pandemic &#8212; but if people cannot tell whether the information they are receiving is reliable, <a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20221022230026\/https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/future\/article\/20210209-the-greatest-security-threat-of-the-post-truth-age\">they won&#8217;t act on this information<\/a>. This is an example of a problem caused by a lack of <a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20221022230039\/https:\/\/www.cser.ac.uk\/resources\/epistemic-security\/\">epistemic security<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>We aren&#8217;t sure how important these problems are, or how to best go about addressing them.<\/p>\n<p>It seems likely that more research would be valuable to:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Assess how strong the evidence is for social media (or the internet in general) driving inaccurate views.<\/li>\n<li>Identify the extent to which this could impact the <a href=\"\/articles\/future-generations\/\">long-term future<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span id=\"what-are-the-major-arguments-against-this-problem-being-pressing\" class=\"toc-anchor\"><\/span>What are the major arguments against this problem being pressing?<\/h2>\n<p>The issue is receiving attention from social media companies who are well-positioned (though questionably incentivised) to work on it, which makes it harder for an individual to contribute to progress. For example, <a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20221022230109\/https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/formedia\/blog\/working-to-stop-misinformation-and-false-news\">Facebook<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20221022230413\/https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/intl\/ALL_uk\/howyoutubeworks\/our-commitments\/fighting-misinformation\/\">YouTube<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/help.twitter.com\/en\/rules-and-policies#platform-integrity-and-authenticity\">Twitter<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20221022230137\/https:\/\/newsinitiative.withgoogle.com\/\">other platforms<\/a> all have policies for tackling misinformation (though of course we might expect conflicts of interest to reduce the effectiveness of these efforts).<\/p>\n<p>The issue has also been addressed by <a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20221022230400\/https:\/\/cepr.org\/voxeu\/columns\/misinformation-strategic-sharing-homophily-and-endogenous-echo-chambers\">prominent academics<\/a>, is expressly political, and is <a href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/search?q=fake+news\">regularly in the news<\/a>. This reduces the likelihood that this problem is particularly neglected and would benefit from additional people working on it, rather than working on <a href=\"\/problem-profiles\">another pressing problem<\/a> that receives less attention.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, as far as we can tell, the evidence for social media driving inaccurate views is mixed &#8212; we&#8217;ve included some articles arguing in both directions just below.<\/p>\n<p>That said, we haven&#8217;t looked into this problem that much, and there may be innovative ways people can make a difference here that we&#8217;re not aware of.<\/p>\n<h2><span id=\"learn-more\" class=\"toc-anchor\"><\/span>Learn more<\/h2>\n<h3><span id=\"top-recommendations\" class=\"toc-anchor\"><\/span>Top recommendations<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Podcast: <a href=\"https:\/\/80000hours.org\/podcast\/episodes\/hugo-mercier-misinformation-mass-persuasion\/\">Hugo Mercier on why gullibility and misinformation are overrated<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Podcast: <a href=\"\/podcast\/episodes\/tristan-harris-changing-incentives-social-media\/\">Tristan Harris on the need to change the incentives of social media companies<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.48550\/arXiv.1912.11211\">Algorithmic extremism: Examining YouTube&#8217;s rabbit hole of radicalization<\/a> by Mark Ledwich and Anna Zaitsev, and a <a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20221022230436\/https:\/\/anna-zaitsev.medium.com\/response-to-critique-on-our-paper-algorithmic-extremism-examining-youtubes-rabbit-hole-of-8b53611ce903\">response to a critique of the paper<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20220331042022\/https:\/\/jsteinhardt.stat.berkeley.edu\/blog\/recsys-deepdive\">How much do recommender systems drive polarization?<\/a> by Jacob Steinhardt, which suggests that social media is not an important source of political polarisation<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><span id=\"further-recommendations\" class=\"toc-anchor\"><\/span>Further recommendations<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Podcast: <a href=\"https:\/\/80000hours.org\/podcast\/episodes\/nina-schick-disinformation-synthetic-media\/\">Nina Schick on disinformation and the rise of synthetic media<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Podcast: <a href=\"https:\/\/80000hours.org\/podcast\/episodes\/martin-gurri-revolt-of-the-public\/\">Martin Gurri on the revolt of the public &amp; crisis of authority in the information age<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Podcast: <a href=\"https:\/\/80000hours.org\/podcast\/episodes\/bruce-schneier-security-secrets-and-surveillance\/\">Bruce Schneier on how insecure electronic voting could break the United States \u2014 and surveillance without tyranny<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Podcast: <a href=\"https:\/\/80000hours.org\/podcast\/episodes\/nathan-labenz-ai-breakthroughs-controversies\/\">Nathan Labenz on recent AI breakthroughs and navigating the growing rift between AI safety and accelerationist camps<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"tw--mt-6 tw--p-3 tw--pt-2 tw--bg-gray-lighter tw--rounded-md \">\n<h3 class=\"no-toc\">\t\t<a class=\"no-visited-styling tw--text-off-black hover:tw--text-off-black hover:tw--no-underline focus:tw--text-off-black\" href=\"https:\/\/80000hours.org\/problem-profiles\/\">\t\t\t<small>Read next:&nbsp;<\/small>\t\t\tExplore other pressing world problems\t\t<\/a>\t<\/h3>\n<div class=\"tw--grid xs:tw--grid-flow-col tw--gap-3\">\n<div class=\"xs:tw--order-last tw--pt-1\">\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/80000hours.org\/problem-profiles\/\">\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/80000hours.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/sea-ocean-sky-night-cosmos-view-826635-pxhere.com_-720x448.jpg\" alt=\"Decorative post preview\" width=\"720\" height=\"448\">\t\t\t<\/a>\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"\">\n<div class=\"tw--pb-3\">\n<p>Want to learn more about global issues we think are especially pressing? See our list of issues that are large in scale, solvable, and neglected, according to our research.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"\">\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/80000hours.org\/problem-profiles\/\" class=\"btn btn-primary\">Continue &rarr;<\/a>\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"well visible-if-not-newsletter-subscriber margin-bottom margin-top padding-top-small padding-bottom-small\">\n<h3 class=\"no-toc\">Plus, join our newsletter and we&#8217;ll mail you a free book<\/h3>\n<p>Join our newsletter and we&#8217;ll send you a free copy of <em>The Precipice<\/em> \u2014 a book by philosopher Toby Ord about how to tackle the greatest threats facing humanity. <a href=\"https:\/\/80000hours.org\/free-book\/#giveaway-terms\">T&#038;Cs here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<form data-80k-object-id=\"\" data-80k-form-action=\"newsletter__subscribe\" action=\"\/\" method=\"post\" class=\"form-newsletter-signup form-newsletter-signup-step-1 margin-bottom-smaller\">\n<div class=\"mc-field-group input-group compact-input-group \"> <input type=\"email\" value=\"\" name=\"email\" required class=\"form-control email\" placeholder=\"Email address\" id=\"input_email\"> <span class=\"submit input-group-btn input-group-btn-right\"> <input type=\"submit\" id=\"mc-embedded-subscribe\" value=\"GET THE BOOK\" class=\"btn btn-primary \" \/> <\/span> <\/div>\n<div> <input name=\"_eightyk_action\" value=\"mailchimp_add_subscriber\" type=\"hidden\"> <input name=\"redirect_path_after_step_2\" value=\"\/newsletter\/welcome\/\" type=\"hidden\"> <\/div>\n<div style=\"position: absolute; left: -5000px;\"> <input type=\"text\" name=\"b_abc12f58bbe8075560abdc5b7_43bc1ae55c\" tabindex=\"-1\" value=\"\"> <\/div>\n<\/form>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":423,"featured_media":78290,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1236,400,291],"class_list":["post-77629","problem_profile","type-problem_profile","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-false-ideas-on-social-media","category-other-pressing-problems","category-world-problems"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.3 - 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